BEIJING - THE US envoy to the North Korean nuclear talks, Mr Christopher Hill, arrived in China while his Pyongyang counterpart conferred with Russia yesterday as hopes revived for progress in the long-running six-country negotiations.
Mr Hill, hoping to fix a date for resuming the talks, said he would brief China's chief negotiator, Mr Wu Dawei, about discussions he held last week in Berlin with North Korean representative Kim Kye Gwan.
'I will ask (Mr Wu) about his thoughts on when they can schedule the next round of six-party talks,' Mr Hill told reporters on arrival at Beijing airport.
Before visiting Beijing, Mr Hill briefed officials in Tokyo and Seoul. He and South Korean envoy Chun Yung Woo said they hoped the next round of talks would open before Chinese New Year on Feb 18.
Japan Foreign Minister Taro Aso told reporters in Tokyo yesterday that the negotiations were likely to resume early next month.
The talks began in 2003 with the aim of persuading Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear arms development. The countries involved in the talks are China, two Koreas, the US, Japan and Russia.
The urgency of making headway has grown since the North defied international warnings last October and conducted its first nuclear test, triggering UN sanctions.
However, the last round of negotiations in December ended inconclusively.
Hopes were raised when the North's official news agency said last Friday a 'certain agreement' had been reached between Mr Kim and Mr Hill in Berlin.
Mr Kim held talks in Moscow yesterday with Russian chief negotiator Alexander Losyukov on prospects of solving the dispute, the Russian foreign ministry said.
Russian news agencies quoted Mr Kim as saying he was pleased with the outcome.
One agency, RIA, said North Korean and US financial representatives would meet today to discuss the possibility of cancelling financial sanctions against Pyongyang. Mr Hill will see Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei before returning to Washington today.
REUTERS
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