US nuclear envoy in talks barrage on North Korea

Top US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill on Wednesday launched a barrage of talks here as Washington and Seoul push for a quick resumption of talks on dismantling North Korea’s atomic arsenal.

Hill, who arrived in Seoul Tuesday, met a series of current and future officials ahead of South Korea’s change of government next month.

He has urged Pyongyang to provide a complete list of its nuclear programmes — a key sticking point slowing down the six-nation disarmament process. North Korea missed a December 31 deadline to disable its main nuclear facilities and give a full declaration of its atomic programmes in return for economic aid under a deal agreed a year ago at the six-party talks.

Hill’s visit comes at a delicate time with Seoul preparing for a new conservative government after a decade of liberal rule.

He met Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon over breakfast Wednesday before seeing President Roh Moo-Hyun and his key foreign policy advisor, according to sources at the foreign ministry and the US embassy here.

“They exchanged opinions on the future directions of US-South Korean alliance and North Korea’s nuclear issue,” a source, who did not want to be named, said after the “informal” breakfast meeting.

Hill then met Park Geun-Hye, an influential Grand National Party politician, and held a separate meeting with Park Jin, a GNP lawmaker in charge of a new foreign policy for president-elect Lee Myung-Bak.

Details on the closed-door discussion were not disclosed. The US envoy will meets president-elect Lee, who has signalled a tougher line on the North, on Thursday.

SEOUL, Wednesday, AFP