US negotiator could meet with N. Korea official

A meeting between the top US negotiator in long-stalled North Korean nuclear disarmament talks and his North Korean counterpart is possible, the State Department said Monday, as envoys worked to convene a new round of negotiations. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill is in Beijing to discuss restarting talks that have been deadlocked for more than a year; a meeting with Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's vice foreign minister, is "certainly an open possibility," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. After talks between Hill and Kim last month, North Korea agreed to return to the arms negotiations that involve the Koreas, the United States, Russia, Japan and China. The decision followed North Korea's first nuclear test on Oct. 9.