hankyoreh

A high-ranking U.S. government official said September 4 (EDT) that North Korea and the United States are negotiating every day on a nuclear declaration verification agreement through diplomatic channels in New York.

The official said that if North Korea really had decided to nix the agreement, they would not be continuing to talk. He said the United States believes that North Korea will express its complaints during the negotiation process.

About U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill going to Beijing, the official said Washington would be pleased if they could meet with the North Koreans in Beijing.

South Korean chief negotiator Kim Sook, prior to leaving for Beijing on September 5, said that at the time, he had no information that North Korean figures such as North Korean chief negotiator Kim Kye-gwan would show up.

About the activity at the North Korean nuclear facility in Yongbyon, Kim said he had no additional information. Radio Free Asia, quoting an unnamed diplomatic expert in Washington, reported on September 5 that the piece of equipment moved from storage to the Yongbyon facility was a disconnected cable.

Kim, Hill, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau director Akitaka Saiki -- the chief negotiators for South Korea, the United States, China and Japan in the six-party talks -- held bilateral meetings with one another September 5.

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