U.S. Meets Again With North Koreans on Nuclear Weapons

U.S. and North Korean envoys to the six-party talks in Beijing on dismantling the reclusive communist state's nuclear weapons held another one-on-one meeting Wednesday after failing to narrow their differences a day earlier. From the Chinese capital, Roger Wilkison reports that negotiators from China, Japan, Russia and South Korea will later join them to discuss how North Korea can implement a pledge it made more than a year ago to disarm in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

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On the third day of the nuclear talks, U.S. envoy Christopher Hill says it is not clear where the negotiations are heading.

North Korea, emboldened by its nuclear test in October, says it will not get rid of its weapons program unless all sanctions against it are lifted. It also wants to be recognized as a nuclear power.

Hill said Tuesday that is impossible.

"We've made very clear we're not going to live with their nuclear weapons. No country is going to accept that North Korea should have nuclear weapons," he said.

On the sidelines of the talks, financial officials from the United States and North Korea are meeting for a second day on U.S. banking sanctions Pyongyang insists must be lifted before it will dismantle its nuclear program. But the U.S. delegate to those talks says it will be a long process.

By VOA News