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North Korea says progress made during visit by US delegation on nuclear dispute

By BURT HERMAN,Associated Press Writer AP - Friday, April 25

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea expressed optimism Thursday over talks this week with a U.S. delegation on its nuclear program, raising hopes of breaking an impasse that has deadlocked disarmament negotiations.

The nuclear talks have been mired since last year over what North Korea will include in a declaration of its nuclear programs. The U.S. says the communist nation missed a year-end deadline to complete the declaration, which it had agreed to provide to the other countries in the negotiations.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry said Thursday it had discussed technical matters with the Americans for moving forward on that and other agreements from the arms talks.

"The negotiations proceeded in a sincere and constructive manner and progress was made there," the ministry said in a statement after the Americans left Pyongyang, North Korea's capital.

The ministry gave no further details in the statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The U.S. delegation, led by the State Department's top Korea specialist, Sung Kim, arrived in Seoul after their three-day visit to North Korea.

"I would just tell you that we had a good visit. We had a very substantive discussion," Kim said, without elaborating.

The U.S. has recently stepped back from its demand for a detailed declaration addressing North Korea's alleged secret uranium enrichment program and nuclear cooperation with Syria. North Korea has denied the allegations.

Now, the U.S. says it wants North Korea to simply acknowledge the concerns and set up a system to verify the country does not conduct such activities in the future.

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