'US, NKorea discuss progress on nuclear deal'

Seoul, Jan 17: A meeting of North Korean and US envoys in Berlin this week should bring the two sides a step closer to implementing a key agreement aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons programme, South Korea said today.

US envoy Christopher Hill met North Korea's Kim Kye-gwan on Tuesday to pave the way for a resumption of the Beijing six-way talks and the pair were expected to hold further meetings this week, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told reporters.

''There will have to be a good platform laid at this meeting for reaching an agreement on early steps on implementing the September 19 joint statement,'' Song said.

North Korea agreed at talks with South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China in September 2005 to scrap its nuclear weapons programme in return for economic aid and security guarantees.

The talks later bogged down over Pyongyang's complaint that a US crackdown on its financial activities was proof that Washington remained hostile to its leaders.

The United States has since agreed to meet North Korean officials separately on the financial crackdown and was looking at the possibility of releasing some of the North's funds it had frozen, US officials said.

''I expect that the North has come with its own response to a proposal put to them in December,'' Song said, without elaborating.

At a six-party meeting last month the United States put forward its most detailed plan so far to compensate the North if Pyongyang took steps to begin freezing its nuclear programmes, but the North Korean envoy stopped short of accepting the offer.

South Korean and US officials have said Kim had come to Beijing that time without a mandate to accept a US offer. He might be delivering Pyongyang's official position in Berlin this week, Song said.

Japan's top government spokesman welcomed the meeting in Berlin but said Tokyo had not been briefed on the discussions.

''We also want to combine dialogue with pressure, so I think holding the talks in itself is a very good thing,'' Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters in Tokyo.

Song denied there were signs that North Korea might be preparing a second nuclear test. The North conducted its first last October, triggering UN Security Council sanctions.

''We have no specific evidence that North Korea will conduct such a test,'' Song said.

A European diplomat said recent intelligence reports indicated that Pyongyang appeared to be planning a second nuclear test that cold be timed to fall on the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in February or that of his late father in April.

REUTERS