US envoy hopes for 6-way talks on NKorea in July

TOKYO, June 19 (Reuters) Washington's top US nuclear envoy expressed hope today that six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear arms programme would resume in early July.

''I'm very hopeful we can get to the six-party talks sometime in early July,'' US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters after arriving in Tokyo for talks with his Japanese counterpart.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said it will send a senior delegation next week to agree on details for a return of its inspectors to monitor Pyongyang's promised nuclear reactor shutdown.

The North missed a mid-April deadline to shut its Soviet-era reactor as part of a six-way deal struck in February. Pyongyang said it would not move until about million of its funds frozen in a Macau bank were released.

Last week, the money started making its way to North Korea through a route that will take it through banks in the United States and Russia.

North Korea plans to seal its Yongbyon reactor, located about 100 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, in the second half of July, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified North Korean diplomatic source as saying yesterday.

REUTERS JK VV1557