By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter

Top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill will meet his South Korean counterpart Chun Yung-woo in Seoul today to discuss stalled six-party talks amid North Korea"s failure to declare all its nuclear weapons programs, according to diplomatic sources.

Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, arrived in Seoul last night after meeting his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan in Beijing.

The Hill-Kim meeting at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing around noon Tuesday came as surprise because it was unannounced. Kim was accompanied by Jung Tae-yang, vice director-general of the American bureau of the North Korean Foreign Ministry.

The U.S. and North Korean envoys probably discussed a suspected uranium enrichment program (UEP), which is the main reason for a stalemate in the talks. Washington alleges Pyongyang ran a UEP, but the communist country has flatly denied this.

Pyongyang promised to submit a full list of nuclear programs by the end of 2007 in return for economic aid and political concessions but it has not yet kept the promise.

Hill repeated in Beijing that what is important is North Korea should make a ``complete and correct"" declaration of nuclear programs but the North seems not to be ready for the declaration.

The visit to Seoul is the second leg of Hill"s Asian tour after Beijing. He is scheduled to fly to Tokyo later today.

During his stay in Seoul, the U.S. envoy will not only discuss the North"s nuclear issue but also prepare for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice"s visit to Seoul as she will arrive here at the weekend to attend the presidential inauguration ceremony on Feb. 25.

``While in Seoul, she will also meet with senior officials to discuss regional security and bilateral relations, including the six-party talks and the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement,"" State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Meanwhile, the two Koreas and China will hold working-level talks on economic and energy aid for the North from Feb. 21-22 in Beijing, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The meeting is the third in its kind, following previous ones in Shenyang and Pyongyang.

The talks will mainly discuss provision of non-heavy fuel oil and the establishment of energy facilities.

In return for disabling nuclear facilities and declaring the nuclear weapons program, the North will receive 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or the equivalent under a nuclear talks accord.