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SEOUL: US envoy Christopher Hill said Sunday he would meet Tuesday with his North Korean counterpart, one day before six-party talks resume on Pyongyang's nuclear programmes.
"I anticipate having a bilateral with him (Kim Kye-Gwan) on ... Tuesday at some point," the chief US nuclear negotiator told reporters on arrival in South Korea from Japan.
North Korea's foreign ministry earlier announced it had shut down its Yongbyon reactor, the source of plutonium for atomic weapons, under the first phase of a nuclear disarmament pact reached at six-nation talks in February.
"That was a good first step," Hill said, calling for a faster pace in negotiations.
"We lost a lot of time this spring. Now we have to catch up in the fall (autumn)," he said. "That means seeing how quickly we can move through the second stage of the actions."
The reactor shutdown, part of the "initial actions" agreed under the deal, will be rewarded with 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.
The North will receive another 950,000 tons of fuel oil or equivalent aid, plus major diplomatic benefits and security guarantees, if it goes on to declare all nuclear programmes and permanently disable all nuclear facilities.
The six-party forum groups the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia. It is set to meet Wednesday in Beijing to discuss the next steps after the shutdown.
Hill is holding consultations around the region ahead of the talks.
The North's foreign ministry said the shutdown of Yongbyon was monitored by inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. - AFP/yy
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