NK talks resume, U.S. denies deal

POSTED: 10:04 p.m. EST, February 7, 2007

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program resume in Beijing on Thursday with the top U.S. envoy denying a Japanese media report that the isolated state had signed a deal with Washington.

Participants have played down hopes of an immediate settlement of the protracted standoff, which took a higher profile around the world when the communist North carried out its first test atomic blast in October, prompting U.N. sanctions.

Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily reported that North Korea and the United States had signed a memorandum in Berlin last month in which Pyongyang agreed to move towards shutting down its nuclear reactor in exchange for aid.

Top U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said the report was wrong.

"We did not sign anything," he told reporters.

Negotiators from the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China gather later on Thursday at a secluded compound in western Beijing where they will turn their attention to a 2005 statement offering North Korea economic and security concessions in return for abandoning its nuclear weapons ambitions.

"I want to emphasize that the real success is when we complete the September '05 agreement," Hill told reporters on Wednesday.

"Not just when we start the '05 agreement, but when we finish it, so we're not going to finish that this week. We'll just maybe take a good first step."

China has set no date for ending the latest talks, but the hosts' chief negotiator, Wu Dawei, has said they may last three or four days.

South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo said that after much negotiation it was time for results, and he urged compromise.

"North Korea must be prepared to show, in actions, its commitment for denuclearization and must not make unreasonable demands, and the other five countries must not be ungenerous or hesitant in taking rational corresponding measures," Chun told reporters.

These talks are likely to focus on persuading North Korea to first freeze its Yongbyon nuclear plant.

Hopes that such a deal would be sealed at the previous round in December faded after North Korea focused on its objections to a U.S. financial crackdown.

NK talks resume, U.S. denies deal - CNN.com