US envoy sees no progress in N.Korea talks so far

BEIJING, Dec 19 (Reuters) The top US negotiator in bruising nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea said today he saw no progress yet and urged Pyongyang to come to the table with a realistic offer and a festive spirit.

''I think I would be hard-pressed to say any progress was made,'' US Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill told reporters in Beijing before a second day of negotiations aimed at coaxing the communist state to scrap its nuclear arms.

''Certainly there was nothing I heard in the plenary (meeting) to fill me up with a sense of holiday spirit,'' Hill said, speaking beside a towering Christmas tree in his hotel lobby.

Yesterday's opening meeting of envoys from the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia marked the first six-party talks in more than a year, and was held in the shadow of Pyongyang's first nuclear test, on October 9.

But in his opening bid at the six-sided negotiating table, North Korea's envoy, Kim Kye-gwan, pressed sweeping demands in return for scrapping its nuclear weapons, starting with lifting UN sanctions and US financial curbs and including provision of a new nuclear reactor.

Washington imposed the financial curbs last year after determining that Pyongyang was involved in money-laundering and counterfeiting U.S. dollars. The U.N. Security Council authorised sanctions in October after condemning the nuclear test.

China said there were widely divergent views at the table, and called for ''pragmatism and flexibility''.

''Some of the differences between the sides are quite clear and some disputes are quite sharp,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference.

Hill suggested North Korea had not made a serious pitch and had much to lose if the talks failed.

''They should come to it in a mood of trying to reach a deal,'' he said of the impoverished state. ''They need a lot of things. They need food, electricity. They don't need nuclear weapons.'' MORE REUTERS MS ND1422