N Korea agrees to return to nuclear talks

BEIJING, Oct 31 (Reuters) North Korea agreed today to return to six-party talks on dismantling its atomic weapons just weeks after staging its first nuclear test, and a US envoy said he wanted to see ''substantial progress'' after a year-long hiatus.

Envoys from North Korea, the United States and China met in Beijing and agreed to resume the talks in the near future, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on its Web site.

After the breakthrough meeting, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told a Beijing news conference that he expected ''rapid progress'' from the next talks, possibly in November or December, but acknowledged that fully settling the nuclear standoff was likely to be painstaking.

''We are a long way from our goal still,'' he said. ''I have not broken out the cigars and champagne quite yet.'' The other three countries involved in the talks are South Korea, Japan and Russia. A fifth round of talks in Beijing broke off last November without progress and North Korea later protested over a US crackdown on its international finances.

Hill spelled out a contentious bundle of issues that would preoccupy negotiators and could again derail discussions, including the US financial restrictions, questions of how to ensure that North Korean kept any disarmament commitments, and the diplomatic damage done by Pyongyang's October nine nuclear test.

North Korea made no explicit promise not to conduct any more tests, Hill said, adding that a UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Pyongyang remained in force.

''I think it's self-evident they should not engage in such provocations,'' Hill said of further tests.

MORE REUTERS BDP RK2151