BEIJING, May 28 (UPI) -- Diplomatic efforts were under way in Beijing to restart talks aimed at getting North Korea to be transparent about its nuclear program.
North Korean and U.S. negotiators met again Wednesday in the Chinese capital, seeking "definitive progress" on the denuclearization deal concluded last year among the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas, Yonhap news agency reported.
"We have to work out a schedule for declaration. We have been working hard and trying to complete phase two," said chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill, who met with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye Gwan, Xinhua reported. Hill also held talks with Chinese negotiator Wu Dawei.
"We've needed this declaration since the end of December," Hill said, noting independent verification of the details has been elusive.
The six-party agreement requires North Korea to disable its nuclear facilities, and provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs.
"I hope we can get an overall time frame that I can take back to Washington," Hill said.
North Korea had been under a Dec. 31 deadline to outline its nuclear program but that did not happen. Intelligence data says the North Koreans had been sharing their nuclear technology with Syria.
