SINGAPORE: US Assistant Secretary of State and top nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill is in Singapore on Thursday.

He is in discussions with North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye-Gwan to iron out details of a disarmament-for-aid pact that Pyongyang has agreed to.

The meeting is expected to lay the groundwork ahead of the Beijing meeting on Monday.

Mr Hill, who expects to wrap up pre-talk discussions by Friday, has declined to go into specifics. But he said the pre-talk discussion will examine all areas of the negotiation process.

"We want to make sure we have enough specificity in a verification agreement, so that as we get on with verification, especially as the disablement phase winds down, we don't have any unpleasant surprises," he said.


- CNA/so