Progress reported in U.S.-N. Korea talks

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The United States and North Korea made some progress in two days of talks in Beijing on the North's nuclear program, U.S. envoy Glyn Davies said Friday.

The discussions included humanitarian issues and were "substantive and serious" but there was no breakthrough, Davies, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, told reporters in the Chinese capital, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

Kim Kye Gawn, the North Korean nuclear envoy at the talks, described them as positive.

The Beijing talks were the first since the December death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who was succeeded by his youngest son Kim Jong Un. There were previous talks in New York and Geneva, Switzerland.

The talks focused on ending North Korea's nuclear program and closing down its uranium enrichment facility, and on restarting the wider six-nation negotiations on the same issue. Those talks, involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, have been stalled since 2008 when the North walked out.

There had been reports that the North and the United States were close to a deal for ending the uranium enrichment in return for the resumption of U.S. food aid.

Davies will meet with South Korean and Japanese officials during the weekend, The Washington Post reported.

Security experts told the Post that with the United States maintaining communications with North Korea the leadership in that isolated country may be less likely to create problems in the region or test new weapons.