Top U.S. nuclear negotiator to travel to Asia for consultation on six-party talks

The chief U.S. nuclear negotiator heads out to Asia next week for consultations on North Korea as involved nations wait for Pyongyang to come back to the table with an answer to the proposal presented last month.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill will visit Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo, spending a day in each of the capitals starting Jan. 19, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Friday.

He flies to Seoul directly from Berlin, where he will speak to the American Academy on regional security issues and the North Korean nuclear talks, Casey said. The Berlin academy is a nonpartisan center for scholarly and cultural exchange.

Hill is Washington's lead delegate to the so-called six-party process, a denuclearization forum involving South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan. The negotiators met last month in Beijing after 13 months of suspended dialogue, with Washington presenting a "package" approach that combines actions and incentives that ultimately require the North to give up its nuclear weapons and programs.

The December session fell short of expectations when Pyongyang demanded the U.S. resolve the financial sanctions issues before moving on to denuclearization.

The U.S. Treasury took punitive steps against Macau's Banco Delta Asia in September 2005, accusing the bank of laundering money that North Korea earns by counterfeiting American currency and trafficking narcotics and contraband.

The six countries parted without setting dates for the next round. Casey on Friday said there was still no schedule to announce.

Separate talks on financial sanctions, expected this month, also have not been scheduled, Casey said.

Nuclear talks reopened against the backdrop of a U.N. Security Council resolution unanimously adopted to punish Pyongyang for its Oct. 9 nuclear test. The 192 U.N. members were urged to freeze assets and ban travel for people helping North Korea's weapons of mass destruction programs. The resolution also prohibits trade in and out of Pyongyang of "luxury" goods, meant to hurt the regime's top leaders, known for their lavish lifestyle.

On Thursday, the U.S. expressed frustration that the U.N. sanctions committee was not moving quickly enough to push implementation of U.S.-proposed amendments to the resolution that would expand the number of banned goods and technology.

"For the sake of the credibility of the committee and this sanctions regime, we wish to see these amendments adopted as quickly as possible, said Jackie Sanders, the U.S. deputy envoy to the U.N.

As of midweek, only 46 U.N. members had submitted reports on their implementation of the resolution.

The U.S. wants to see the implementation "done fully and completely and comprehensively as possible," Casey said at a daily briefing.

"Certainly what we don't want to see happen is have the North Koreans be able to obtain any kind of material or financial support that's going to benefit their nuclear program," he said.

Washington, Jan. 12 (Yonhap News)