US nuke envoy in Tokyo to discuss N. Korea nuclear issue

JAPAN, The chief US nuclear envoy arrived in Tokyo on Monday to coordinate policy in Asia following North Korea's failure to meet denuclearization promises.

On his first stop, Christopher Hill was to meet with his Japanese counterpart, Kenichiro Sasae, at Japan's Foreign Ministry on Monday. He was then to travel to Seoul, Beijing and Moscow "to compare notes to see where we ought to be heading in the next few weeks," he told reporters as he arrived at Narita International Airport near Tokyo.

In its first statement on the nuclear issue since failing to meet a year-end deadline to declare it atomic programs, North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Friday accused the U.S. and other participants in the six-way disarmament talks of not carrying out their commitments.

It cited delays in shipping energy aid and removing the North from U.S. terrorism and trade blacklists.

North Korea last year promised to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for the equivalent of 1 million tons of oil and political concessions, such as the possibility of normalized relations with the U.S. and removal from the terror list.

Tokyo, Monday, AP