US envoy to North Korea nuclear talks starts Asia tour
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-11 14:23

A key U.S. envoy starts a flurry of talks in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing on Wednesday to shore up crumbling negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes, South Korea's foreign minister said.

North Korea has threatened to boycott nuclear talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States on its atomic ambitions because of a U.S. crackdown on its finances. Pyongyang wants Washington to end the sanctions.

The United States has clamped down on several companies it suspects of aiding North Korea in counterfeiting, money laundering and the drug trade, saying the illicit business has helped fund Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programmes.

The chief U.S. negotiator for the talks, Christopher Hill, is scheduled to meet Japan and South Korea's chief negotiators on Wednesday and then meet China's pointman on Thursday, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told a news briefing.

The visit comes after North Korea's Kim Jong-il entered China on Tuesday, according to regional media reports. It was not clear where he was on Wednesday.

A Japanese foreign ministry source said the timing of Hill's Asian trip might have been prompted by the reported visit to China of the North Korean leader.

On Wednesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Beijing's chief negotiator, Wu Dawei, met Japanese chief negotiator Kenichiro Sasae on Sunday and also recently met South Korea's top envoy, Song Min-soon, on the six-party talks.