The chief US negotiator to the six-party nuclear talks on
Tuesday said "no breakthroughs" had been made after the first
one-on-one meeting with his counterpart from the North Korea.
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"We don't have any breakthrough to report," Assistant US Secretary
of State Christopher Hill told reporters Wednesday night at the
hotel.
Hill did not release details of his one-on-one meeting with the
chief North Korean negotiator Kim Kye-gwan, the first since the
talks resumed on Monday.
Hill confirmed he also had one-on-one meetings with the other
four delegations.
Formally known as the second phase of the fifth round since
2003, the fresh talks involved China, the North Korea, the United
States, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Russia, with focus on the
implementation of the joint statement in September 2005.
Under the joint statement, the North Korea agreed to abandon its
nuclear program in exchange for economic aid and security
guarantees.
"We cannot accept anything less than the goal of
denuclearization," Hill said. "I really want to see something get
done this week."
"Tomorrow will be a bilateral day," Hill said, adding he will
have "an early discussion with the North Korea delegation
tomorrow."
On the sidelines of the six-party talks, the United States and
the North Korea held a separate meeting on finance issues in
Beijing.
President of the North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank O Kwang Chol
held three-hour talks with Daniel Glaser, US Treasury Department's
deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial
crimes, at the US Embassy on Tuesday afternoon.
(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2006)