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WASHINGTON : US and South Korean envoys on Monday discussed "next steps" in a six-nation effort aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons drive following recent revelations that Pyongyang helped Syria build an atomic facility.
Christopher Hill, the top US envoy to the six-party talks, and his South Korean counterpart, Kim Sook, held a meeting in Washington on the effort to disband North Korea's nuclear arsenal, calling it "good" consultations.
Last week's disclosure by Washington that North Korea had helped set up a nuclear reactor for Syria until its destruction in an Israeli air raid in September 2007 is unlikely to disrupt the six-party process, US and South Korean officials have said.
A US team, led by State Department official Sung Kim, visited Pyongyang last week to discuss a long awaited declaration by the hardline communist state on its nuclear weapons program and proliferation activities.
"We began to discuss the Sung Kim trip and we talked about the next steps in the process, we talked about various aspects of the declaration and what we would expect to see as we continue this process," Hill told reporters.
North Korea has shut down its key nuclear reactor and is in the process of disabling it for eventual dismantlement under a six-party aid-for-denuclearization deal.
Pyongyang will receive energy aid as well as diplomatic and security guarantees under the deal.
The US says the North Korean declaration must clear up suspicions about an alleged secret uranium enrichment program and the suspected proliferation to Syria.
The North denies both activities. Under a reported tentative deal hammered out in Singapore recently, Pyongyang will merely "acknowledge" US concerns about the two issues in a confidential document to Washington.
Asked about the Singapore deal Monday, Hill said discussions were still underway on Pyongyang's nuclear declaration.
"We are putting together a lot of elements and for this declaration phase, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and we are working very hard to assemble all the elements, and that is why we are having these consultations that are key for us," he said.
Kim Sook, who also met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice briefly on Monday, said he had "very good consultations".
- AFP/ir
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