SEOUL, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. and North Korean diplomats met informally in July to discuss nuclear concerns on the Korean Peninsula, a senior diplomat said.
A diplomat with knowledge of talks at the U.N. headquarters said U.S. and North Korean officials in July discussed the nuclear situation but made little progress.
"I know that there was informal contact recently between North Korea and the U.S., although no exact date is available," the source told the Yonhap news agency in Seoul. "But (the outcome) was no more than checking each other's position."
North Korea agreed early this year to place a moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests in exchange for food assistance from the United States. The deal collapsed in April, however, when North Korea tried to send a long-range rocket into orbit.
A report last week by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists states a tunnel completed near the site of the country's first two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 suggests North Korea might be capable of another nuclear test "in as little as two weeks."
North Korean analysts suspected Pyongyang was preparing for a nuclear test in April following the failed rocket launch. Previous nuclear tests coincided with launches by North Korea.
