US sees signs NKorea may deal on nuke issue

WASHINGTON, Dec 14: There are signs North Korea is ready to discuss specific steps toward ending its nuclear ambitions at six-way talks that begin in China this weekend, a senior US official said.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the top US negotiator, declined to say what steps were under discussion or to predict whether North Korea might take them but he stressed the United States wanted to see real progress in the talks.

The two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States plan to gather in Beijing on Sunday for the first round of six-party discussions since North Korea's October. 9 nuclear test.

''We need concrete progress,'' Hill told reporters ahead of his trip to Asia, which he said would include a stop in Tokyo and possibly Seoul before he arrives on Sunday in Beijing, where he said the six-party talks may begin that evening.

Asked if he had any reason to believe North Korea was ready to take concrete actions, Hill said that when he last met them in November ''there were indications that the ... North Koreans, would be prepared to deal in specifics at the coming round.'' ''The Chinese have also been in direct contact with the North Koreans on several occasions and they also have reason to believe that we will see some specific ideas for moving ahead,'' he added.

North Korea's October. 9 nuclear test sparked international condemnation that brought even China, its long-time supporter, to support UN Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang.

Hill said the aim of the talks was to carry out a September 2005 deal under which North Korea committed to ''abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs'' in return for aid and security guarantees from the United States and others.

''We need a sign that we have moved off of the pages of the September agreement and on to the ground of the Korean Peninsula,'' he said. ''We've got to get changes on the ground.'' Hill would not be drawn on what steps Washington wants Pyongyang to take.

Analysts have speculated these might include suspending its work at Yongbyon, where North Korea has a five-megawatt reactor and a plutonium reprocessing plant, allowing International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country or making a detailed declaration of its nuclear programs.

Hill said it was unclear how long this round of talks would last in Beijing but he hoped to be home in the United States in time for Christmas.

''These negotiations, as I have said in the past, are very difficult negotiations,'' he added. ''I am not here to predict success or to express optimism.'' The last six-party round broke off in November 2005 after Washington squeezed Pyongyang's access to the world financial system to punish it for alleged illicit activities, including printing fake US bank notes worth about 550 million dollar a year.

There will be a separate set of talks in Beijing next week between the North Koreans and a US Treasury Department official to discuss these issues, Hill said.

REUTERS

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