SKorea: U.S. Had Offered Talks With NKoreaWednesday September 13, 2006 7:31 AM
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea's vice foreign minister on Wednesday
confirmed reports that the United States had offered one-on-one talks
with North Korea over the communist nation's nuclear program, but was rejected.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency and other media reported Tuesday that the
chief U.S. nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, proposed
a meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye Gwan, during a recent stop
in China. The North did not accept the offer, the reports said.
"I understand that Assistant Secretary Hill made such a gesture on his own
initiative in an effort to resume" six-nation talks on the North's nuclear program,
South Koream Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told a news briefing.
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