SEOUL - The chief U.S. nuclear envoy stayed on in North Korea for an unexpected second day of talks Thursday to persuade Pyongyang to resume dismantling its nuclear program in exchange for energy aid.
U.S. diplomat Christopher Hill spent a second night in North Korea after meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye Gwan, at the reclusive nation's invitation, U.S. officials said. He is expected to return to Seoul Friday.
Hill drove to Pyongyang Wednesday to try and salvage the six-party talks that produced the landmark 2007 pact promising aid and other concessions to North if abandoned its nuclear ambitions.
North Korea began disabling a nuclear reprocessing plant in Yongbyon -- but then abruptly stopped last month, citing Washington's refusal to remove it from a terrorism blacklist. The U.S. maintains the agreement required North Korea to submit to a thorough verification of its nuclear accounting -- a demand Pyongyang rejected.
North Korea's defiance comes amid concern about authoritarian leader Kim Jong Il's health. Kim, 66, has not been seen in public since reportedly suffering a stroke in August.
Also Thursday, South Korea's Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported North Korea had upgraded facilities at a northeastern missile launch site, possibly to test-fire a long-range missile capable of reaching parts of the U.S.
North Korea launched a long-range Taepodong-2 missile in 2006 from the site in Musudan-ri, but that test was considered a failure. South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae declined to confirm the report.
In Pyongyang, Hill was expected to propose ways to adjust the sequencing of steps North Korea must take as part of verification, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington.
"We know that he's staying an extra day," McCormack told reporters. "He called back in to Washington. He didn't provide anything that I would consider a full report. I think that's understandable given the communications issues."
"We'll see what these discussions yield," he said. "The ball is really in the North Koreans' court."
A senior U.S. official said earlier Hill would offer to let North Korea agree to a verification program -- but submit details first to its Chinese allies. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
China in the past has served "as a repository for documents and information" and could do the same with the verification protocol, McCormack said. But he stressed the North Koreans had to agree to the intrusive steps the United States is demanding.
"The ball is in the North Koreans' court," he said. "They have to reverse their reversal and they have to approve a verification regime."
The U.S. official suggested that if North Korea agreed to a verification plan, Washington would provisionally remove it from the list of terrorism sponsors.
U.S. officials said they were not sure North Korea would agree to the idea or, if it did, whether any proposals it presented to the Chinese would be acceptable to Washington.
After leaving North Korea, Hill travels to Seoul to brief his South Korean counterpart, Kim Sook, before flying on to China, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
The two Koreas, meanwhile, held their first official talks in eight months Thursday inside the Demilitarized Zone.
The military talks were brief, with North Korea demanding that South Korea stop sending propaganda leaflets critical of its leader. Officials threatened to expel South Koreans working at joint projects in the North if the propaganda, the North's official KCNA news agency reported.
The two Koreas agreed in 2004 to officially ending decades of fierce rhetorical battles using leaflets, loudspeakers and radio broadcasts. However, activists still send large balloons into the North carrying anti-Kim Jong Il leaflets -- and sometimes US$1 bills.
