BEIJING -- The United States and North Korea held direct talks for the first time in months yesterday, meeting for about a half-hour on the sidelines of a six-nation summit designed to resolve the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
A South Korean official said the North appeared "willing to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker confirmed the meeting with the North Koreans took place but he gave no details except to say that it lasted about 35 to 40 minutes.
The meeting, held soon after the six-way talks opened yesterday, was the first concrete sign of progress in six-nation talks designed to resolve the disagreement over the nuclear program -- and to ensure security for the East Asian region. China, Russia, Japan and South Korea are also participating in the three days of meetings.
The heads of the U.S. and North Korean delegations participated in the one-on-one talks, said Wie Sung-rak, director-general at the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau. The meeting came hours after the North Korean government reiterated its insistence that the United States agree to a nonaggression treaty.
"The U.S. side made comments about easing North Korea's security concerns, but I cannot give you any more details," Wie said. "From what North Koreans said during the meeting, we could read that North Korea is willing to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue."
The contact between the delegations ended a diplomatic drought between the two nations, at odds over the nuclear program and U.S. demands that it cease immediately. Pyongyang demands guarantees of security and economic aid as conditions for doing so.
Both sides would benefit if a sturdy channel of communication were re-established -- even if it didn't lead to an immediate resolution of the nuclear dispute. Mere agreement this week to keep talking regularly would constitute some degree of success.
Earlier, when the full six-nation talks convened, the two nations' top envoys at the session -- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il -- shook hands and smiled before sitting alongside the other participants around a vast hexagonal table behind the high brick walls of the Chinese government's state guest house.
"I am very happy the six countries are all here," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the assembled diplomats before the meeting was closed to reporters.
The North Korean government had long demanded one-on-one talks with the United States, but dropped its objections to the multilateral arrangement after Beijing -- a longtime Pyongyang ally and communist neighbor -- agreed to host it.
Wie had no information about whether any breakthroughs were made in the one-on-one talks.
"We hope the contacts between the (American and North Korean) delegations will continue," Alexander Losyukov, the Russian deputy foreign minister and head of his country's delegation, told the ITAR-Tass news agency. But he stopped short of predicting progress.
"The sides have advanced a number of preliminary conditions which block the development of the talks," Losyukov said without elaborating. He said North Korea declared it wishes to be nuclear-free but expressed concern about "menaces from the U.S."
North Korea repeated its demand for the nonaggression pact from the South's key ally -- the United States -- saying it would not give up its "nuclear deterrent force" for anything less than that.
The United States should "clarify its will to make a switchover in its hostile policy toward (North Korea) and conclude a nonaggression treaty with it," Rodong Sinmun, the North's official newspaper, said in a commentary carried by KCNA, the North's official news agency.
U.S. officials believe North Korea has one or two nuclear weapons, and experts believe it could produce five to six more in a few months. The North has withdrawn from key international agreements in recent months, including the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
In October, according to the United States, North Korea acknowledged having a secret nuclear program, beginning the standoff and war of words that led to this week's talks. President Bush already was wary of North Korea, calling it in a January 2002 speech part of an "axis of evil."
The discussions are expected to continue until Friday as part of a process experts say may be drawn-out -- but is inching in the right direction.
"The talks will lay the foundation for the next talks," said Li Dunqiu, secretary-general of the Chinese Society for the Study of Korean History.
"Mistrust between the two sides cannot be dispelled within a single negotiation. It takes time," Li said in an interview.
The participants' interests go beyond simply wanting to keep the isolated communist North from becoming a nuclear threat.
South Korea wants to clear an obstruction from its policy of reconciliation with Pyongyang. China hopes to avoid being dragged into a conflict between its longtime ally, North Korea, and a vital trading partner, the United States. The North, faced with economic collapse, wants more food and humanitarian aid.
Japan wants progress on the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North during the Cold War, and its delegation brought up that issue in the first session Wednesday -- despite warnings by North Korea not to.
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