By Bernama
Seoul : Chief American nuclear envoy Christopher Hill had a series of meetings with South Korean officials Wednesday, to discuss ways of restarting the stalled six-way talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis, Yonhap news agency reported.
Hill had a closed-door meeting with Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong, Seoul’s point man on Pyongyang, whose recent comments on the denuclearization angered North Korea.
Recently, Kim said the new South Korean government will stop expanding the inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong unless North Korea abandons its atomic weapons. In protest, North Korea expelled 11 South Korean government officials from the border town.
The U.S. negotiator also met with Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-rak and Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon.
“He is also scheduled to hold a meeting with Kim Byung-kook, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs, in the afternoon,” South Korean news agency quoted a U.S. embassy official as saying here.
On Tuesday, Hill and his South Korean counterpart Chun Yung-woo urged North Korea not to waste any more time.
“When we come to the point where it (dialogue) is not going to work, we will certainly have to consider what else to do,” Hill told reporters after his meeting with Chun.
Chun also said that related parties have given the North enough time and that it should present a “complete and correct” declaration immediately.
Such a coordinated demand came amid reports that Pyongyang and Washington are in the final stage of talks to resolve the disputes over the declaration.
North Korea argues it already provided a list of its nuclear programs several months ago, but Hill said it was just “research material” which lacks explanations on suspicions that Pyongyang has run an uranium-enrichment program and transferred nuclear technology to Syria.
The secretive nation denies the allegations.
“The two sides are fine-tuning the wording of a compromise declaration,” a diplomatic source here said.