| |
BEIJING : The United States and North Korea have inched closer to resolving an impasse over Pyongyang's nuclear programmes, a top US diplomat said on Wednesday, while warning any breakthroughs remained far off.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill addressed reporters in Beijing after talks in Singapore he held a day earlier with his North Korean counterpart in the nuclear negotiations, Kim Kye-Gwan.
"All in all, I would say it's been a good couple of days," Hill said.
He spoke after emerging from a round of bilateral meetings earlier on Wednesday between the other parties to the six-nation North Korean disarmament deal.
The Beijing talks were held to brief the other nations - China, South Korea, Japan and Russia - on the outcome of the Singapore meeting.
Washington has been pushing Pyongyang to deliver a complete declaration of all nuclear programmes, a key step in the 2007 nuclear deal.
Hill refused to reveal any details on the various talks or say how close such a declaration might be.
"We've definitely made progress on (a declaration) but every time I mention a time, I'm always wrong," he said, adding that further details could be forthcoming in the days ahead.
"I don't want to suggest there has been any major breakthrough. But as the days go by, we'll be announcing some efforts to try to move ahead," Hill said just before leaving Beijing.
North Korea's Kim also met China's top negotiator, Wu Dawei, on Wednesday.
The disarmament deal grants North Korea - which tested an atomic weapon in 2006 - energy aid and major diplomatic and security benefits in return for full denuclearisation.
The current phase of the deal required the North to disable its main plutonium-producing plants and declare all nuclear activities by the end of last year.
The North says it submitted the declaration in November. But the United States says it has not accounted for an alleged secret uranium enrichment programme or for alleged proliferation to Syria. - AFP/ms
|
