WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - North Korea hopes for a thaw in relations after former President Bill Clinton's trip to Pyongyang this month secured the freedom of two jailed U.S. journalists, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said on Wednesday.

Richardson, a veteran diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said he had held positive meetings in Santa Fe with representatives from the North Korean mission to the United Nations.

"The North Koreans are sending good signals, that they're ready to talk directly to the United States," Richardson said on CNN. "They felt that the President Clinton visit was good, that it helped thaw relations, make them easier."

"I detected for the first time ... a lessening of tension, some positive vibration," he said.

Clinton was the most senior U.S. envoy in nearly a decade to travel to Pyongyang and spend time face-to-face with North Korea's reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il.

Richardson said the North Koreans had indicated that they felt the decision to pardon journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling and allow them to go back to the United States with Clinton had been a "gesture on their part" and they felt they were now owed a gesture by the United States.

He said the North Koreans had indicated they wanted to have a dialogue with the United States though Washington wants Pyongyang to return to six-party talks to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Richardson said his meeting with them took place at the request of the North Koreans, who had to get special approval to travel away from the New York area.

He said he was not negotiating on behalf of the Obama administration but would serve as a liaison and convey the North Koreans' comments.

Asked whether the administration gave the green light for the meeting, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "Well, the State Department has to approve the travel, but it's a meeting that's happening independent of the administration. (Reporting by Deborah Charles, editing by Chris Wilson)

AlertNet news is provided by