hankyoreh

A senior U.S. official will go to New York soon for talks with North Korean officials in a follow-up to last week's six-party denuclearization agreement, a State Department official said Wednesday.

Alexander Arvizu, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, will lead a team of officials at the talks, but the exact date has not yet been set, according to the official.

Christopher Hill, Arvizu's immediate superior, said Tuesday that the meeting could open this weekend. The official told Yonhap the talks would occur in the near term.

South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, members of the six-party forum, sealed a deal last week that commits Pyongyang to declare its nuclear programs and disable its nuclear facilities by the end of the year. The agreement is part of a comprehensive goal to eventually dismantle all of the North's nuclear weapons and related programs. In exchange, the other five governments would provide energy, aid, financial assistance and ultimately normalize relations with Pyongyang.

Pyongyang and Washington have a separate working group for discussing improving bilateral ties. U.S. incentives include removing North Korea from its list of terrorist-sponsoring nations and lifting broad range of sanctions imposed under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

Arvizu took over as assistant secretary for Korea and Japan in August. He replaced Kathleen Stephens, who now serves as an adviser to the East Asia and the Pacific Bureau.

Since they have no established formal ties, North Korean and U.S. officials often use their U.N. missions in New York as meeting venues.


WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (Yonhap)