South Korea's vice foreign minister Wednesday confirmed reports that the United States had offered one-on-one talks with North Korea on the communist nation's nuclear program, but was rejected. However, a U.S. official said in Washington that no new offer of direct talks had been made to Pyongyang.South Korea's Yonhap news agency and other media reported Tuesday that the chief U.S. nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, proposed a meeting with his North Korean counterpart during a recent stop in China. The North did not accept the offer, the reports said. "I understand that Assistant Secretary Hill made such a gesture on his own initiative in an effort to resume" six-nation talks on the North's nuclear program, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told a news briefing.
A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the ongoing process, reiterated, however, that the United States would only see the North as part of meetings with other countries, such as the nuclear negotiations.
The two countries have maintained communications through the North's mission to the United Nations in New York. Washington says the channel is only for communication purposes, not negotiation.