US sees chance for progress in NKorea talks

Tokyo, Jan 20: The next round of six-country talks on ending North Korea's nuclear arms programmes could see progress after Washington and Pyongyang held ''useful'' meetings in Berlin, the US envoy to the negotiations today said.

''With regard to the actual meetings with Mr Kim Kye-gwan in Berlin, I would say they were very useful discussions, they were substantive,'' Christopher Hill told reporters shortly after arriving in Tokyo. ''That is we really discussed the issues that we would face in the next round of the six-party talks.'' Hill, in Tokyo to brief Japanese officials on his meetings in Berlin this week with his North Korean counterpart, said that Pyongyang had agreed to resume the six-country talks aimed at winding up its nuclear arms programmes soon.

''We certainly agreed that we would go forward with the six-party talks. We agreed on the need to get going with the next round,'' he said.

The US envoy said China, which hosts the talks, was expected to decide on a date for the resumption after consulting other participants in the multilateral forum.

''I think the actual date for the six-party talks would depend on the Chinese government,'' Hill said.

North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States participate in the talks, which began in 2003 and are aimed at persuading impoverished Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear arms development.

Hill and South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo said in Seoul on Friday that they hoped the next round of talks would start before the February 18 Lunar New Year.

'Agreement In Berlin'

North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test last October, said yesterday only that it had reached a ''certain agreement'' with the United States at the talks in Berlin.

The last round of six-party talks, in December -- which took place just two months after the North's nuclear test triggered UN sanctions -- ended inconclusively.

''What I would hope for is that this session, whether it's a late January or early February session, does achieve more progress than we were able to do in December,'' Hill said.

He stressed the need to move quickly to implement a September 2005 six-party deal, under which Pyongyang would abandon the nuclear option in exchange for economic aid and security guarantees.

''We can't do it all at once, but we hope to achieve some of it,'' he said.''We would look forward to getting some progress on that... This is a tough enough and difficult enough business.'' Hill said there was also a tentative date for separate bilateral talks on a US crackdown on North Korea's external financing.

Washington has squeezed firms it suspects of aiding Pyongyang in illicit activities such as counterfeiting. It has designated a bank in Macau as a money-laundering concern, effectively cutting the North's main banking conduit to the outside world.

Pyongyang has said the financial sanctions must be lifted before any progress can be made in the nuclear negotiations.

South Korea's foreign minister said yesterday that he expected the talks between US and North Korean financial officials to take place in the United States next week.

Hill plans to travel to Beijing on Monday.

Reuters