Report: North Korean nuclear envoy notes movement in U.S. stance on its nuclear weapons

Tuesday, January 23rd 2007, 6:21 am

By: News On 6

BEIJING (AP) _ North Korea's nuclear envoy suggested Tuesday that Pyongyang could soften its approach to the six-party talks seeking to convince the communist nation to halt its nuclear weapons program, while also sounding upbeat about a recent meeting with U.S. officials.

North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan made the comments to reporters after a bilateral meeting with his South Korean counterpart Chun Yung-woo in Beijing, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

When asked if North Korea's demands that have contributed to the nuclear talks being stalled might change, Kim said: ``Doesn't everything change?''

Asked to describe his feelings about a meeting last week in Germany with American nuclear envoy U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Kim said: ``I am satisfied.'' He also described a change in the U.S. attitude as ``positive,'' but did not give details.

The North's Foreign Ministry has said without elaborating that the meeting in Germany produced an agreement.

The hard-line communist North had refused during six-nation talks in December to engage in any discussion of its nuclear program and repeated a demand for the U.S. to lift economic sanctions it leveled against the North before doing so.

The U.S. had accused a Macau-based bank of being complicit in the North's alleged counterfeiting of $100 bills and money laundering, leading the bank to freeze North Korean assets worth about $24 million.

The South Korean nuclear envoy said after meeting Kim that there was a basis for making progress in the next round of nuclear disarmament talks, Yonhap reported.

The meeting is the latest in a series of exchanges between representatives from the countries involved in the six-party talks _ China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas _ aimed at setting a date for the resumption of wider negotiations on dismantling North Korea's nuclear program.

China's envoy Wu Dawei, who has spoken with Hill, Kim and Chun, will also meet Japan's representative Kenichiro Sasae on Wednesday, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

Beijing is expected to announce a date for new talks soon, but Liu said Tuesday it hadn't been fixed yet.

``We believe these meetings and talks are good for the next phase of the six-party talks,'' Liu said at a regular press briefing. ``The relevant parties are hoping for the early resumption of the talks.''

He said China hoped for progress on implementing a September 2005 joint statement _ the only one ever reached at the talks _ in which the North pledged to disarm in exchange for security guarantees and aid.

Also Tuesday, Japan's Foreign Minister said he believes the disarmament negotiations must address specific steps to end the North's nuclear program or they will be ``meaningless.''

The last session of the talks in December, the first after the North testes a nuclear bomb on Oct. 9, failed to make any progress. Officials have said they expect the negotiations to reconvene before mid-February.

Hill wrapped up a week of shuttle diplomacy on Monday in Beijing and said he believed there was ``a basis for making progress'' when negotiators meet again.