US and N. Korea agree to 'get going' on new round of nuke talks, US envoy says

TOKYO (AP) _ The U.S. and North Korea have agreed to ``get going'' on a new round of six-nation nuclear talks after ``useful'' meetings in Berlin, the top U.S. envoy on North Korea said

Saturday, January 20th 2007, 6:34 am

By: News On 6

TOKYO (AP) _ The U.S. and North Korea have agreed to ``get going'' on a new round of six-nation nuclear talks after ``useful'' meetings in Berlin, the top U.S. envoy on North Korea said Saturday, amid new hopes for a breakthrough in the standoff.

The comments spur optimism about progress in the long-stalled negotiations on dismantling the communist country's nuclear facilities and come days after North Korea said it struck an unspecified agreement with the United States in Germany.

``We certainly agreed that we would go forward with the six-party talks. We agreed on the need to get going on the next round,'' Hill said after arriving in Tokyo on a regional trip to brief allies on the four-day negotiations, which ended Thursday.

``With regard to the actual meetings with Mr. Kim Kye-gwan in Berlin, I would say they were very useful discussions. They were substantive,'' Hill said of the talks with North Korea's main nuclear negotiator.

After the Berlin talks, North Korea said it reached an unspecified agreement with the United States, and Hill said the meeting laid the foundations for progress when the six-nation talks reconvene.

The negotiations are aimed at persuading the isolated communist regime into giving up its nuclear ambitions in exchange for aid, and include North Korea, the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. Negotiations have taken on added urgency since North Korea rattled the region by testing its first nuclear bomb in October.

The last six-way round, held in Beijing in December, ended without any breakthroughs.

Hill said he hope for progress on implementing some of the steps agreed to in September 2005, where the North pledged to disarm in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

``I think we'd be looking to try to implement some of that agreement,'' Hill said. ``We can't do it all at once, but we'd hope to implement some of it.''

Hill said Sunday he hoped the next round could begin later this month or in early February. Exact timing depends on China, the expected host of the meeting, and Hill will be traveling next to Beijing before returning to Washington, the U.S. envoy said.

In South Korea, he said he was aiming for a meeting before the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls on Feb. 18 this year.

``We would like to get going as soon as possible,'' Hill said.

North Korea offered a rare, upbeat assessment of the Germany meetings.

``We paid attention to the direct dialogue held by the (North) and the U.S. in a bid to settle knotty problems in resolving the nuclear issue,'' the North's ministry said in a statement released by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.

The U.S. State Department said the meetings allowed Hill to gain a better sense of where North Korea stands on the future of its nuclear weapons program, but added that no issues were resolved.

The countries had been seeking to outline how to implement the September 2005 agreement. But the key stumbling block has been Washington's blacklisting of a Macau bank that held North Korean accounts.

The U.S. and Pyongyang have agreed to discuss the financial issue, and Hill said Saturday that both countries agreed in Berlin to hold talks on the issue soon.

The discussions have not yet been scheduled, but could convene as early as next week, Hill said.