Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
July 23, 2008

Rice Describes Meeting with N. Korean Counterpart as 'Good' 
------------------------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1D5C836:A6F02AD83191E160F8A88CB96607F7BFE55ED32ED25AB8F6&
 
US secretary of state says parties to six-nation talks on Pyongyang's
nuclear program have 'sense of urgency' about moving process forward 
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and top US nuclear negotiator
Christopher Hill during foreign ministers meeting on sidelines of ASEAN
Regional Forum, Singapore, 23 Jul 2008U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice says parties to the six-nation talks on North Korea's
nuclear program have "a sense of urgency" about moving the process
forward.She spoke Wednesday after meeting in Singapore with foreign
ministers of the other five nations taking part in the nuclear
disarmament talks. The meeting, held on the sidelines of the Association
of South East Asian Nations forum, included the first face-to-face talks
between Rice and her North Korean counterpart, Pak Ui-chun. Rice
described it as "a good meeting," with officials committed to moving
ahead rather than having another hiatus of several months.The six
foreign ministers, including those from Japan, China, South Korea, and
Russia, were expected to focus on a draft proposal to verify Pyongyang's
declaration of its nuclea!
 r activities. That declaration was submitted last month.A Japanese
Foreign Ministry spokesman said his country hoped the meeting would
provide "a new impetus" among the six nations to verify Pyongyang's
declaration. But a North Korean spokesman, Ri Tong Il, says it is also
important for the U.S. to drop what he describes as a "hostile policy"
towards his country.During talks held earlier this month, Pyongyang
agreed to disable its main plutonium-producing facilities by the end of
October, and allow on-site inspections to verify its
declaration.Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator for the talks,
says he hopes there can be an agreement on the verification issue by
mid-August.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


.