Agreement clears U.S. for Iranian resolutions

N. Korea: 'Agreement' Reached With U.S.
Jan 19 9:36 AM US/Eastern
By BURT HERMANAssociated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea said it reached an agreement with the U.S. during talks this week on its nuclear program, and the top U.S. nuclear envoy expressed optimism Friday that progress could be made when wider arms negotiations reconvene.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry said three days of talks in Berlin between U.S. envoy Christopher Hill and North Korea's main nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan had been held "in a positive and sincere atmosphere and a certain agreement was reached there." No further details were given.

Hill said the talks laid the foundation for progress when six-nation nuclear negotiations resume and that he had agreed with his North Korean counterpart "on a number of issues." He also declined to elaborate.

"I am pretty convinced that we have the basis for a good session of the six-party talks," Hill told reporters in Seoul after meeting South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo.

"I feel we do have a chance of making some progress at the next round, absolutely," he said.
The last round of six-nation talks in Beijing in December _ two months after the North conducted its first-ever nuclear test in October _ ended without any breakthroughs.

The negotiating countries, which include South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia, had been seeking to outline how to implement a September 2005 agreement in which the North pledged to disarm in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

But North Korea refused to discuss its arms program and again demanded the U.S. lift its blacklisting of a Macau bank. The U.S. had accused the bank of being complicit in the communist country's alleged counterfeiting and money laundering, leading the bank to freeze North Korean assets worth about $24 million.

The North did not directly mention the financial dispute in its statement Friday, but said progress was made in overcoming obstacles to the six-nation talks.

"We paid attention to the direct dialogue held by the (North) and the U.S. in a bid to settle knotty problems in resolving the nuclear issue," the North's ministry said in the statement, released by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.

On arriving in Seoul earlier Friday, Hill said he hoped six-nation talks would be held again before the Lunar New Year holiday celebrated across Asia that falls this year on Feb. 18.

"It's up to the Chinese (hosts) but I would think we'll have a six- party meeting pretty soon," he said.

The U.S. is holding separate negotiations with North Korea on the financial dispute, but the last session that was held alongside the nuclear talks in December made no progress.

Hill said the next financial talks could take place as early as next week, but added a location had not yet been decided. The U.S. had proposed the two sides meet in New York, while the North wants to hold the talks in Beijing.
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Associated Press reporters Kwang-tae Kim and Bo-mi Lim contributed to this report.