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BEIJING : A senior US diplomat Saturday ended a three-day visit to North Korea, saying he urged the communist state to make a full and accurate declaration of its nuclear activities.
Sung Kim, director of Korean affairs at the State Department, had gone to Pyongyang to try to move stalled six-nation disarmament negotiations forward.
Kim, quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency at Beijing airport, said he had told his counterparts from North Korea's foreign ministry that any declaration must be complete and accurate.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency said separately that "issues of concern" in implementing the denuclearisation pact were raised.
"The discussion took place in an earnest and practical atmosphere," it said.
The North's leader Kim Jong-Il said this week his country is still committed to the six-party deal and the deadlock can be overcome.
The North missed a December 31 deadline, set by a six-party deal, to declare all its nuclear activities. It says it submitted a list in November but the US insists it must account fully for a suspected secret highly enriched uranium weapons programme.
The North, which staged a nuclear test in October 2006, is disabling its main plutonium-producing plants as part of the deal. Media reports say it has slowed down the work in response to what it sees as the failure of negotiating partners to keep their side of the agreement.
In particular, it wants the US to start the process of removing it from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Washington says this depends on receiving a full declaration.
The six-party talks group the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan.
Kim was expected to hold talks with Chinese officials on the nuclear issue before leaving for Washington later Saturday, Yonhap said.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday: "We remain engaged in the diplomatic process and fully supportive of the six-party process in our assessment that it will continue to yield positive results."
- AFP /ls
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