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BERLIN - US and North Korean officials ended three days of discussions in Berlin on Thursday without commenting on the chances of a breakthrough at six-party talks on the communist state's nuclear weapons programme.
A spokeswoman for the US Embassy confirmed US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who met North Korean officials for six hours on Tuesday and 1-1/2 hours on Wednesday, held a third round of talks on Thursday.
She said Hill had left the German capital and was en route to Asia. He made no statements following Thursday's informal discussions with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan.
After the first round, Hill described the talks as "useful discussions" but played down any suggestion that they might lead to a breakthrough in the nuclear stand-off with Pyongyang, which detonated its first nuclear device last October.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Hill and Kim had exchanged views on a number of proposals made at the last six-way meeting in December.
"We want to make sure that the (next) round is well prepared when it happens," said Casey.
Hoping to curb Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme, the UN Security Council issued a resolution imposing sanctions which forbid the sale of luxury goods and military equipment to North Korea.
North Korean negotiators did not speak to reporters in Berlin. North Korea's official KCNA news agency issued what it said was a joint statement of the country's government, political parties and organisations.
"The US should drop its anachronistic hostile policy towards the DPRK (North Korea), halt its reckless nuclear row against the DPRK, give up its plot to stifle the latter through sanctions and stop unreasonably interfering in the issues of the Korean nation," KCNA said on Thursday.
The aim of the six-party talks is to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms ambitions. Those talks, last held in December, include both Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
- REUTERS
