Asia-Pacific

US, N.Korea optimistic after talks

(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-07 15:50

Speaking of North Korea, Hill said, "I think they would like to move to diplomatic relations, but I must say this is very much linked to denuclearization."

Hill wouldn't predict when the last piece of nuclear material will be taken out of North Korea, but said: "We believe that the faster we go the steadier we'll be."

"Let us do this step-by-step - get through 60 days and take the next thing, which I think is measured in months, and not years, and then go on from there," he said.

Hill said the six parties will meet March 19 in Beijing to make sure that all the required 30-day actions were met, including initial meetings of working groups on five issues.

Japan's chief envoy said Wednesday at the start of two-day working group talks with North Korea that normalizing ties between the two countries will not be possible until the North resolves the issue of its abductions of Japanese citizens - an emotional dispute that has divided the two nations.

"We'll convey that message to the other side and urge them to fully face the problem and take positive steps," Japan's chief envoy Koichi Haraguchi said in Hanoi as he headed for the opening session with his North Korean counterpart, Song Il Ho.

North Korea wants Japan to atone for the 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula and wartime atrocities, including sex slavery of tens of thousands of Korean women.

Hill said he had a long discussion with Kim about the Japanese abductions and made "a strong pitch" that it was "very important" for North Korea "to reach out and develop relations with Japan."

"I was pleased to see there was a positive understanding," he said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday that a senior aide to South Korea's president will visit North Korea this week and speculated his goal was to set up a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. But officials in Seoul denied a summit was in the works.