US, S. Korea envoys discuss N. Korea nuclear program

South Korea's nuclear negotiations chief met Thursday with US special envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth to discuss Pyongyang's uranium enrichment program, officials said Thursday. The program disclosed last November potentially gives the North a second way to make nuclear weapons, in addition to its plutonium stockpile and envoy Wi Sung-Lac's visit came a day after the North's main ally China blocked publication of a United Nations report criticising the program.
Wi also held talks with Robert Einhorn, the US State Department's special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, and with his US counterpart Sung Kim, according to a spokesman.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Wi would hold talks Friday with Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell.
Prior to his departure, Wi told reporters his trip would focus on how to cope with the uranium program at the UN Security Council and consider ways to create the right conditions for resuming long-stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear disarmament.
The sanctions panel report blocked by China calls for tougher implementation of the measures and outlines the progress the North has made on uranium enrichment, according to diplomats.
It describes the enrichment as a new violation of sanctions imposed following atomic tests in 2006 and 2009.

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