US envoy says talks with North Korea 'substantive'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The chief US envoy to North Korean disarmament talks said Friday he had "substantive" and "lengthy" negotiations in the North but gave no indication how much progress was made in persuading the communist nation to resume dismantling its nuclear program. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill returned to South Korea earlier Friday after a making a three-day trip to North Korea on a mission to defuse tension that has spiked in recent weeks following the North's moves to restart its nuclear program. "The meetings were indeed very lengthy, indeed very substantive," Hill told reporters after talks with his South Korean counterpart, Kim Sook. Hill refused to disclose further details, saying he first needed to report to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the other nations in the six-party nuclear talks that also involve China, Japan and Russia.