The United States is working to complete the process of North Korea"s nuclear programs declaration within weeks, in order to break the deadlock in the six-party talks, top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said Sunday.

Washington is demanding North Korea submit a "complete and correct" declaration of all of its nuclear programs to allow the start of the next phase - dismantling the North"s nuclear facilities.

"If we can resolve these matters in the next few weeks, which I think is possible, I think we could perhaps, depending on the views of the Chinese hosts, get together for a six-party meeting to plan out the third phase," Hill said at a press conference in Hanoi. "Time is short and I would hope that we can get on with that this month."

Hill, who left for Vietnam on Sunday, also said that Washington and Pyongyang are continuing their discussion through the dialogue channel, using North Korea"s U.N. representatives in New York.

Hill left Beijing after having failed to meet his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan.

During Hill"s Asian tour last week, speculation was rampant that the top negotiators from the United States and North Korea would meet for talks in the Chinese capital.

Hill was quoted as saying in news reports that the North was considering ideas proposed by China on ways to break the deadlock.

"They"re looking at the ideas and haven"t decided what they want to do," Japan"s Kyodo News agency quoted Hill as saying Saturday. "We thought they might be ready to discuss it with us, and clearly they were not."

The six-party talks remain at a standstill over a declaration list of the communist regime"s existing nuclear programs. North Korea argues it has already submitted one, while the United States demands the final list must be "complete and correct," referring to the North"s suspected uranium enrichment program and any proliferation activities.

Before leaving for Vietnam, Hill reportedly told reporters that the involved parties are working to produce a solution in the near future and that the North was reviewing ideas.

To questions why he had failed to meet Kim Kye-gwan during the week, Hill was quoted as saying that things were progressing quickly, but that North Korea may need more time.

Hill, accompanying U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her Asian tour, visited China on Feb. 26. He extended his stay in Beijing an extra day. After his next destination, Thailand, Hill returned to Beijing over the weekend before leaving for Vietnam.

Observers said any type of development must happen soon, before U.S. lawmakers announce the list of states sponsoring terrorism at the end of April.

North Korea, in return for its nuclear facilities disablement and declaration, has been promised 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil and energy equipment, along with political incentives.

Washington promised to start the discussion of removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and terminate sanctions imposed on it under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

Upon the U.S. secretary of state"s decision to remove a state from the list of terrorist sponsors, the president must notify his approval to Congress for the decision to go into effect 45 days later.


By Lee Joo-hee