Kurt Campbell, assistant U.S. secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said Thursday that no decision has been made on the next steps in talks with North Korea over its nuclear programs, two days after the sides met in Geneva for a second round of discussions on the issue.
"I think it would be fair to say that we did make some progress," Campbell told reporters in Seoul during a brief visit at the end of an Asia tour. "There were no breakthroughs. There is a substantial amount of work that needs to be done. No decisions have been taken about next steps."
His comments echoed those of State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, who acknowledged on Tuesday that there had been some "narrowing of differences" during the two days of high-level talks in Geneva, but indicated more time was needed before deciding on further talks.
The Geneva talks, the second bilateral encounter between the sides in less than three months, were attended by North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan; Stephen Bosworth, Washington's outgoing top envoy for Pyongyang; and his successor, Glyn Davies.
"Frankly, we are still in the process of going carefully through every aspect of what was a full day and a half of talks," Campbell said. "We clearly stated our position on pre-steps -- those were closely coordinated with South Korea -- but as I indicated, we still have some work to do."
Campbell was referring to the series of preconditions the U.S. and South Korea are pushing the North to meet before a full resumption of the stalled six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs. These include a monitored suspension of North Korea's uranium enrichment program, a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests and improved ties with the South.
North Korea insists on reopening the forum without any conditions.
The six-party talks, also involving China, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since North Korea quit in April 2009 and conducted its second nuclear test a month later.
Reflecting upbeat comments made earlier by Kim Kye-gwan in Geneva, a spokesman for Pyongyang's foreign ministry claimed North Korea and the U.S. agreed to hold further talks.
"The talks ... helped deepen each other's understanding and made a series of progress," the unnamed spokesman said in an interview with the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"Both sides decided to further DPRK-U.S. contacts and talks to discuss and solve the pending issues in light of building confidence," the official said, according to a KCNA dispatch monitored in Seoul. DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Meanwhile, South Korea's top nuclear envoy, Lim Sung-nam, is currently on a three-day visit to Moscow, where he will meet with his Russian counterpart, Alexei Borodavkin, to coordinate the next steps in reviving the six-party talks. North Korea's Kim Kye-gwan is also expected to visit Moscow on Thursday on his way home from Geneva, diplomatic sources said, spurring speculation Lim may meet with the North's envoy. (Yonhap)