5North Korea talks could resume in February: Russia

Beijing, Jan 23: Six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program could resume in February, Russia's chief negotiator said today, with a senior US envoy seeing potential for progress.

The sense of urgency in the six-party talks has grown since the reclusive North defied international warnings in October with its first nuclear test, triggering UN sanctions.

Russian negotiator Alexander Losyukov, who is also a deputy foreign minister, said Pyongyang was optimistic about resuming the negotiations after a meeting in Berlin last week with US officials, the Interfax news agency reported.

''If they continue in the same atmosphere as in Berlin then we could see the resumption of the six-party process in February, and possibly in the first half of February,'' Losyukov was quoted as saying.

China hosts the talks grouping the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia, which began in 2003.

The last session in December appeared to be making progress on how to implement a September 2005 statement promising economic and political assurances to impoverished North Korea in return for nuclear disarmament.

But that unraveled and US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill blamed the insistent focus of Pyongyang's negotiators on US financial restrictions and their lack of authority to negotiate on the nuclear deal.

Today in Beijing, Hill suggested those roadblocks would be cleared after his consultations in Berlin with North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan.

''I think we have a basis for getting together as soon as possible in the six-party process and making progress,'' Hill said after meeting Wu Dawei, China's chief negotiator.

But there was no certainty of a breakthrough, Hill warned.

Parallel Talks

Japan's Kyodo news agency, quoting diplomatic sources, said the Berlin meetings yielded an agreement for parallel talks on US financial restrictions and Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Kyodo said the agreement included US consideration of steps to release some of the 24 million dollars in North Korean accounts frozen at Banco Delta Asia in Macao.

Washington accuses the bank of handling North Korean money gained from counterfeiting and smuggling. US officials told Reuters last week the US Treasury Department was scrutinizing the accounts to see if some of the money could be considered legitimate and released to Pyongyang.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was possible Hill could meet the North Koreans and others for more informal consultations before the six-party talks resumed. No date had been set, he added.

Hill's comments came amid accelerating diplomacy.

South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo, who arrived in Beijing today, said he did not rule out a meeting with North Korea's Kim. Japan's envoy, Kenichiro Sasae, is due to go to Beijing on Wednesday to talk with China's envoy.

A South Korean newspaper said Pyongyang offered in Berlin to freeze activity at its nuclear reactor and allow the return of international inspectors in exchange for energy aid.

But Pyongyang also demanded greater US flexibility on the financial crackdown, the Chosun Ilbo said.

In a reminder that suspicions between Pyongyang and Washington run deep, North Korea's official KCNA news agency on Monday denounced the recent deployment of a US stealth fighter squadron in South Korea as a slap in the face.

''It is a brazen act of provocation to direct the newest military tools against a dialogue partner while saying dialogue is important,'' it said.

Reuters