'US tries to contact N Korea on nuclear issue'

Seoul, Sept 13: The chief US nuclear envoy sought to contact Pyongyang to help resume stalled six-country talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme but was rebuffed, a South Korean official said today.

The offer by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill was turned down by the North last week while Hill was visiting China, the official said without elaborating.

''I understand Assistant Secretary Hill made the gesture on his own initiative to try to resume the six-party talks,'' South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters when asked about the possibility Hill had sought out the chief North Korean nuclear envoy.

Yu would not say what Hill's gesture was, when it was made or whether he might have been seeking direct talks with envoy Kim Kye-gwan.

The North has long sought direct talks with the United States and Hill has insisted over the past several months such contacts could only take place as a part of the six-country discussions.

Pyongyang insists Washington must end a crackdown on its finances before it will return to the six-party forum.

Before the current confrontation, Hill managed to help bring North Korea back to the table in July 2005 for the first time in more than a year by having discussions with envoy Kim over a steak and cheesecake dinner in Beijing.

Hill ended his latest North Asian tour yesterday, which included an extended stay in China. Speaking in Seoul on Monday, he expressed frustration that North Korea has refused to make any serious moves to jump-start the talks, stalled since November.

The talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States hit a snag over a US crackdown on firms it suspects of aiding Pyongyang in illicit activities, such as drug running.

Yu said it was difficult to anticipate a resumption of the talks any time soon because there was little to form a common denominator between Washington and Pyongyang.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and President George W Bush are to meet in Washington tomorrow and the North's nuclear ambitions will be a key area of discussions.

REUTERS