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Top nuclear negotiators from the United States and North Korea held a bilateral meeting Tuesday on the sidelines of multilateral negotiations aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear ambition, a South Korean official said.

Christopher Hill, Washington's top nuclear envoy, "held a meeting with Kim Kye-gwan," the South Korean negotiator told reporters while asking not to be identified.

The meeting was held at Beijing's Diaoyutai state guesthouse, where the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks have been held since Monday, according to the South Korean official.

The official said the meeting was held "very late in the afternoon."

The U.S.-North Korean chief negotiators' meeting came after a long delay as the North Korean, who arrived here Saturday, had been urging the U.S. to release his country's frozen funds at a Macau bank.

An afternoon meeting of the head delegates from the six nations -- South and North Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia -- was cancelled due to a North Korean boycott, according to Kenichiro Sasae, Japan's chief nuclear envoy here.

"The U.S. and North Korean sides reaffirmed their commitment to implement" a Feb. 13 agreement, in which the North promised to shut down and seal its key nuclear facilities within 60 days in exchange for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, the South Korean official told reporters.

The U.S. declared Monday that the issue of North Korea's frozen funds at Banco Delta Asia has been resolved following its decision to allow the transfer of the funds to a North Korean account at a Chinese bank.

But North Korea said the issue will be resolved only when all of its US$25 million is actually released.

The South Korean official, speaking anonymously, said the money may be released as early as "tonight or early tomorrow."

"Based on today's bilateral meetings, we believe we can open a plenary session of the six-party talks early in the morning" Wednesday, Lim Sung-nam, a South Korean negotiator, said in a press briefing.

Beijing, March 20 (Yonhap News)