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BERLIN - The United States and North Korea held a second day of unprecedented talks today, raising hopes of a breakthrough in efforts to curb the communist state's nuclear weapons program.
Envoys from the two sides, who met for six hours yesterday and another 1-1/2 hours today, were planning to hold a third round of discussions in the German capital tomorrow, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said.
However, State Department spokesman Tom Casey later told reporters in Washington that he did not expect Hill to meet with the North Koreans again in Berlin or in Seoul, Beijing or Tokyo -- the next stops during his current trip.
"Our expectation ... is that this meeting he had today (would) be the last session that he would have on this trip with the North Koreans," Casey said.
The bilateral talks were the first outside the framework of six-country negotiations in Beijing which began in 2003 to try to stop North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Berlin for meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, told reporters that Hill's discussions were aimed at preparing for the six party talks.
"We want to make sure that the next round of 6-party talks is fully prepared so that we can make progress there," she said.
"(This) should help to prepare the way for a more favourable atmosphere at the time of the resumption of the six party talks, which we hope would be soon," she added.
A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters in Washington he was hopeful these talks could begin by the end of the month or soon afterwards.
Officials said Washington's willingness to talk directly with Pyongyang -- as North Korea has long demanded -- suggests it may be ready to compromise over a crackdown on North Korea's finances, despite a nuclear test by Pyongyang last October.
Russia's new chief negotiator at the six-party talks put pressure on Washington to scrap its financial penalties.
"The United States should make some steps toward the (North) Koreans by lifting financial sanctions," Alexander Losyukov told RIA news agency.
Hill met his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, at the latter's embassy in Berlin but declined to comment when he left.
Earlier, Hill said he hoped the six-party talks would resume in January. But he indicated that Pyongyang had still not made a decision to abandon its nuclear arsenal.
"The North Koreans have to decide if they want nuclear weapons or if they want a place in the international community," he said in a speech organised by the American Academy in Berlin.
Real discussion
Hill declined to give details on the substance of Wednesday's talks but described them as "useful discussions". He also played down suggestions the bilateral talks might strike a deal.
"It's very important that any negotiating or deal-making needs to be done in the six-party process," Hill said.
Several officials in Washington said they believed the Bush administration was inclined to resolve the dispute over North Korea's accounts at a Macau bank, which it has called "a willing pawn" in North Korea's illicit financial deals.
South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said the meeting should bring the two sides closer to implementing a deal to end Pyongyang's nuclear arms program struck in September 2005.
In that agreement, hammered out in talks with South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China, Pyongyang agreed to trade its nuclear arms for economic aid and security guarantees.
The talks later bogged down over Pyongyang's complaint that a US squeeze on its financial activities was proof Washington remained hostile to its leaders.
Washington has since agreed to meet North Korean officials separately on the financial crackdown and may agree to the release of some of the North's frozen funds, which are now controlled by Macau authorities, US officials said.
US and North Korean finance officials are due to resume their talks next week in either New York or Beijing, Hill said.
US authorities are scrutinising a number of North Korean accounts at the Macau bank to see if funds from the North's legitimate business can be separated from illicit cash flow, one of the officials said on the condition of anonymity.
Firms, among them British American Tobacco, have said some of the funds frozen at the Macau bank are legitimate. North Korea has said unfreezing the funds is a condition to serious talks on implementing the 2005 deal.
- REUTERS
