Washington's top nuclear envoy said Wednesday stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear arms programme are likely to resume in early July, but Pyongyang must keep its promise to shut down a nuclear reactor.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Pyongyang would need to move on shutting down its nuclear reactor as agreed under a February 13 deal clinched at the last round of the six-party talks before they could resume.
"We don't want to have the six-party talks before we've gotten going on shutting down the reactor," Hill told reporters after meeting Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi. "The Chinese have some ideas about maybe we could do something early in July," Hill said when asked about the timing of the next round of six-party talks,
He said he would rather the meeting not coincide with the US Independence Day holiday, though, adding: "I would like it immediately after the Fourth of July." China has hosted previous rounds of the talks that also bring together the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia.
Hill, who visited Beijing and Seoul this week before coming to Tokyo, said Washington would need to consult other six-party members before they all convened for the next round. He added that he had kept contact with North Korean officials through their United Nations mission in New York.
"We have been in touch through the New York channel with the DPRK," he said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Hill said he hoped that the next round of the six-party talks would lead to a meeting of foreign ministers of the member states when they gather in August for a regional security forum in the Philippines.