S. Korea, U.S. vow efforts for six-way nuclear talks

A top U.S. nuclear negotiator on Saturday delivered a terse response to North Korea's reiterated appeal for Washington to lift its sanctions on a Macau bank as a precondition for Pyongyang's return to the multilateral nuclear talks.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill also said that his country supports China's initiative to organize an informal gathering of the participating nations in the six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Earlier in the day, a South Korean newspaper quoted a senior North Korean envoy based in New York as saying that Pyongyang will return to the negotiating table only after Washington lifts its freeze on North Korean assets in the Banco Delta Asia. The bank is accused of circulating fake U.S. bills allegedly printed in North Korea.

"To be very frank, I think this is not a time for the so-called gestures of that kind. We have that country that has fired off missiles in a truly reckless way that affect regional tranquility and indeed affect regional security," Hill said in a joint press briefing with South Korean chief nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo after their nearly three-hour closed-door discussions.

The envoys said they shared the view that an informal meeting of all the parties concerned would be a good, albeit not the best, option to keep the nuclear discussions alive.

"We agreed to resolve the (missile) issue through diplomatic efforts," Chun said. "We also exchanged opinions to hold at least a round of informal six-way talks."

China, the host of the six-way talks, has been openly pushing for such an informal meeting as a prelude to the formal negotiations. But North Korea responded to the offer with the missile tests.

South Korea has been also pushing for a five-way meeting of South Korea, the United States, China, Russia, and Japan, although the U.S. is opposed to the idea. Hill was also to meet later on Saturday with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, who is expected to again clarify South Korea's position on Pyongyang's missile tests.

South Korea has decided to go ahead with its ministerial talks with the North as scheduled next week, despite the latter's provocative act that drew international condemnation.

The South Korean delegates plan to use the highest inter-Korean dialogue channel to urge Pyongyang not to test more missiles, as well as try to persuade it to rejoin the nuclear arms talks. Hill is to leave for Tokyo on Sunday night.

SEOUL, July 8 (Yonhap News)