(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-08 22:12

SINGAPORE - Talks between top nuclear envoys from the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday in Singapore moved forward the process to resolve the disarmament impasse on the Korean Peninsula, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said.

US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill speaks to the media after his meeting with North Korea's Kim Kye-gwan in Singapore April 8, 2008. [Agencies]

"We had good discussion about the issue," Hill told reporters after meeting DPRK's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, adding that "Depending on what we hear back from capitals by tomorrow, I think there will be some further announcements very soon."

Republic of Korea (ROK) media earlier quoted Kim as saying "There was a considerable narrowing of differences in view."

He also said that "There were discussions on the overall issues. Try to look at this with more time and patience."

No details of the talks were released. Hill told reporters that they discussed the overall situation of the six-party processes "where we are, where we need to be," and the talks were beyond the Geneva talks which failed to break the impasse a month ago.

After the daylong talks, Hill will leave for Beijing on Tuesday midnight, where he will meet with his counterparts from China, ROK, and Japan. He said he will also brief the Russian ambassador to China.

As of reopening the six-party talks, Hill said "We need to get things finalized for phase two. If we can do that I think we would look forward to having the DPRK make their report, and I think the Chinese would want to call a six-party meeting as soon as it can be arranged."

Before his meeting with Kim, Hill told reporters that he was not optimistic but also not pessimistic about the outcome of the one-day talks over the declaration itself and the implementation of the disablement phase of talks.

Washington blames the DPRK for the deadlocked talks, saying Pyongyang failed to give a full declaration of its nuclear programs and activities, as promised under an agreement reached in Beijing in February last year. While the DPRK has said it had already made the declaration and the US suspicions were "fictions."