A senior US official said here on Monday that last week talks between
officials of the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) have laid "solid basis" for progress at next six-party talks.
The three-day meeting was "a good round of consultations," State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack said at a regular news briefing.
"That certainly is positive," McCormack said, adding the United States is
expecting to realize some of that concrete progress in the next round of
six-party nuclear disarmament talk.
The spokesman declined to predict when the next round of six-party talks
would begin.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and Kim Kye-Gwan, top
nuclear negotiator from the DPRK, met in Berlin, Germany over the resumption of
the six-party talks on Jan. 16-18. Hill described the talks as useful and
productive.
The six-party talks involve China, the DPRK, the United States, the Republic
of Korea, Japan and Russia.
During the fifth round of the talks in September 2005, the DPRK signed a
statement agreeing to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for
economic aid and security guarantees from the United States and other countries.
However, the DPRK refused to return to the talks as a result of US financial
sanctions.
The DPRK returned to the talks held in Beijing in December 2006,which failed
to make progress.
