US-North Korean nuclear talks conclude in Berlin
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Jan 18, IRNA
Germany-US-North Korea
Informal talks between US and North Korean officials over Pyongyang's nuclear program have ended in Berlin on Thursday, DPA said.
No details of the talks between US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher R. Hill and his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan were released following three rounds of negotiations over the past three days.
Hill who is the chief US negotiator in the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program, was due to depart Berlin for Seoul, South Korea later in the day, a spokeswoman for the US embassy was quoted as saying.
The US official is also expected in Beijing over the weekend.
Hill pointed to "useful discussions" with the North Korean side in the German capital on Tuesday.
He expressed hope that the stalled six-party negotiations could be revived by "the end of January".
The American diplomat stressed that the basis of the next round of six-party talks had to be the September 2005 joint statement which calls for North Korea's abandonment of its existing nuclear weapons program.
Hill said the primary objective of the six-nation talks is the "de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula".
He reiterated that nuclear weapons in the hands of North Korea is "simply unacceptable".
The last meeting of the six-party talks took place in Beijing from December 18-22.
It was the first six-nation meeting since Pyongyang triggered international condemnation by testing a nuclear bomb on October 9.
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