Senior US envoy Christopher Hill today tried to save a troubled disarmament pact and convince secretive North Korea not to restart its nuclear plant, as the two Koreas held their first talks in almost a year.
US Assistant Secretary of State Hill was scheduled to have a second day of talks with the North's top nuclear envoy in the communist state's capital today, the State Department said.
He was expected to drive back to Seoul afterwards to brief officials on his visit, a State Department official said.
The flurry of diplomacy coincided with a report that North Korea might be about to increase tensions by upgrading a launch site used to test missiles that can hit all of South Korea and most of Japan.
A South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Japan's nuclear envoy was expected in Seoul today and that Hill would go to Beijing on Friday.
China, along with Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States, is trying to push North Korea into giving up nuclear weapons.
Local media reported that Mr Hill was ready to offer a compromise on how to check statements by the North about its nuclear programme in an effort to revive a faltering disarmament-for-aid deal agreed with regional powers.
But a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday that Mr Hill was not going to Pyongyang with an offer to change the "substance" of any verification mechanism.
The North objected to US verification demands, fearing that they would be too intrusive. Washington countered by saying it would only remove Pyongyang from its terrorism blacklist once the North had agreed to a "robust" verification system.
Analysts have said North Korea might be trying to pressure the outgoing Bush administration as it looks for diplomatic successes to bolster its legacy. The North might also think it could reach a better deal under a new US president.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said last week that North Korea had expelled UN monitors from the plutonium-producing part of its Yongbyon nuclear plant and planned to start reactivating the Soviet-era reactor in a week's time. Monitors remained in other areas of the complex, it said.
North and South Korea held their first discussions on Thursday since Pyongyang cut off inter-Korean dialogue early this year in anger at the policies of the South's conservative new president, who wanted to tie aid to disarmament.
The North's proposal for working-level military talks was seen by analysts as a possible olive branch heralding future discussions. But Thursday's session ended shortly after it began with no indication that any progress had been made.
Reuters