 The United States and North Korea signed a memorandum last month in which Pyongyang agreed to take the first steps toward denuclearization in return for energy aid, a source said Thursday. | The memorandum was signed during a meeting in Berlin between Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, according to the source close to North Korean officials. |
The memorandum was signed during a meeting in Berlin between Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, according to the source close to North Korean officials involved in negotiations with the United States. Under the accord, Pyongyang agreed to move toward making the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear threats by taking such measures as halting operations at a nuclear facility in Yongbyon.
| Hill told reporters in Beijing on Thursday that he did not sign any documents during the U.S.-North Korea talks in Berlin. |
Hill told reporters in Beijing on Thursday that he did not sign any documents during the U.S.-North Korea talks in Berlin. However, the top U.S. envoy to the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear development has expressed an optimistic view that Pyongyang would start taking such initial steps within several weeks. The six-party talks, which resumed Thursday afternoon in Beijing, likely will be held based on the agreement, according to sources. |