A top official of the Republic of Korea (ROK) said Thursday he had relayed to the Democratic of People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) the chief US nuclear negotiator's desire to visit the country for talks.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said he delivered US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill's message during last week's inter-Korean Cabinet-level talks in Pyongyang.

"Should Hill's visit to the north (the DPRK) be realized, it would serve as an opportunity to further solidify the outcome of the Six-Party Talks," Chung told a parliamentary committee yesterday.

The latest Six-Party nuclear talks the fourth round since 2003 produced a landmark accord Monday in which the DPRK agreed to abandon its nuclear programme in exchange for economic aid, security assurances and improved ties with the United States.

The DPRK has since issued strongly worded statements throwing that commitment into question. The country said on Tuesday it will not dismantle its nuclear programme unless Washington gives it civilian nuclear reactors to generate power.

Hill was in Seoul on September 12 for last-minute strategy talks before flying to Beijing the following day for the latest round of the Six-Party Talks. At the time he met Chung, who departed for the DPRK the following day, as well as Song Min-soon, his ROK counterpart at the Beijing meetings.

After the Beijing talks wrapped up, Hill said he was willing to visit the DPRK to keep channels of communication open.

The mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported yesterday that Hill's plan faced opposition from US officials with hard-line views on the DPRK. Should that be overcome, his visit could come next month ahead of the next scheduled round of six-nation talks, it said.

The paper, the country's largest, cited an unidentified ROK Government official as saying that Hill showed a "strong desire" to visit the DPRK and "consult directly" with its leader Kim Jong-il on efforts to get the DPRK to disarm.

However, US State Department spokeswoman Darla Jordan declined to comment on the report other than to say: "Nothing has changed."

The ROK's Foreign Ministry suggested any visit by Hill would be positive for the ongoing efforts to get the DPRK to disarm its nuclear weapons.

Source: China Daily