U.S. nuke envoy says North Korea ready to restart talks soon

TOKYO (AP) - The United States and North Korea have agreed to restart six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons program as soon as possible, the top American nuclear envoy said Saturday, fanning hope for progress in the long-running standoff.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill met with his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo following a meeting with North Korean officials in Germany. He said he was optimistic about the North Korean willingness to negotiate.

"There was the view between the two of us that we should try to have the six-party talks as soon as we can," Hill told reporters in Tokyo. "We certainly did agree on the need to get going with the six party talks and the need to make progress."

Hill's comments came during a regional tour where he was to brief South Korea, Japan and China on the meeting in Germany earlier this week between him and North Korea's main nuclear Kim Kye Gwan.

After the four-day talks that began concluded Thursday in Berlin, North Korea said it reached an unspecified agreement with the United States and Hill said the meeting laid the foundations for progress when six-nation nuclear talks continue.

Hill's Japanese counterpart, Kenichiro Sasae, said Hill briefed him on the Berlin talks and that he was optimistic the meeting would form a good foundation for moving forward in the broader disarmament negotiations.

"I expect to see concrete progress within the format of the six party talks," Sasae said.

The negotiations are aimed at persuading the isolated communist regime into giving up its nuclear ambitions in exchange for aid, and include North Korea, the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. Negotiations have taken on added urgency since North Korea rattled the region by testing its first nuclear bomb in October.

The last six-way round, held in Beijing in December, ended without any breakthroughs.

Hill said he hope for progress on implementing some of the steps agreed to in a September 2005, where the North pledged to disarm in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

"I think we'd be looking to try to implement some of that agreement," Hill said. "We can't do it all at once, but we'd hope to implement some of it."

Hill said Sunday he hoped the next round could begin later this month or in early February. Exact timing depends on China, the expected host of the meeting, and Hill will be travelling next to Beijing before returning to Washington, the U.S. envoy said.

In South Korea, he said he was aiming for a meeting before the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls on Feb. 18 this year.

"We would like to get going as soon as possible," Hill said.

North Korea offered a rare, upbeat assessment of the Germany meetings.

"We paid attention to the direct dialogue held by the (North) and the U.S. in a bid to settle knotty problems in resolving the nuclear issue," the North's ministry said in a statement released by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.

The U.S. State Department said the meetings allowed Hill to gain better sense of where North Korea currently stands on the future of its nuclear weapons program, but added that no issues were resolved.

The countries had been seeking to outline how to implement the September 2005 agreement. But the key stumbling block has been Washington's blacklisting of a Macau bank that held North Korean accounts.

The United States and Pyongyang have agreed to discuss the financial issue, and Hill said Saturday that both countries agreed in Berlin to hold talks on the issue soon.

The discussions have not yet been scheduled, but could convene as early as next week, Hill said.

© The Canadian Press, 2007