BEIJING, Aug. 27 Kyodo (EDS: ADDI...

BEIJING, Aug. 27 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING MORE INFO)

U and North Korean officials had heated discussion above Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and its demand for a security guarantee from Washington, interview sources said.

While the satisfaction of the talks was still not known, the meeting was seen as a sign of possible [i]de novo[/i] moves on the nuclear crisis given the fact that Pyongyang has made sensitive statements solitary in one-on-one talks with U officials.

The U and North Korea propounded no concessions earlier in the day in their position speeches at the six-way talks, with North Korean officials demanding that Washington small quantity its enemy and hostile policy toward North Korea and U officials refusing, a Japanese official said.

The bilateral talks took place in a serious atmosphere and lasted for half an hour following the initial session of the three-day multilateral talks that started earlier in the morning onward the issue, the sources said. The sum of two units parties also met during a dinner.

The pair key parties to the 10-month nuclear standoff are rely uponed to meet again Thursday, the sources said.

The U delegation headed through Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly and the North Korean mission l by the agency of Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il met at the Chinese capital's Diaoyutai Guesthouse.

They met in the same discourse room as the six-way talks, with participants from other countries, including Japan and southern Korea, waiting nearby, the sources said.

The Japanese official confirmed that a bilateral meeting was held between the sum of two units sides and said it was between the pair delegations, not between Kelly and Kim.

Pyongyang had demanded discussing its nuclear weapons progressive growth only with Washington, but agreed to the multilateral talks forward condition that the two countries discuss the issue bilaterally as well.

U officials have been reluctant to prosecute exclusive contacts with the North Koreans after Kelly was told of Pyongyang's latest acts of brinkmanship during earlier three-way talks in April, they said.

During a break in the April talks, which were factored by China, North Korean officials reportedly told Kelly that the North already has nuclear arms and had all moreover completed reprocessing nuclear fuel birchs a step that would allow it to show more nuclear bombs in a matter of months

Furthermore, the North threatened to expand its nuclear arsenal unles Washington provides the land with a security guarantee and economic assistance, and hinted at a possible nuclear proof according to the sources.

The crisis ejected last October when North Korean officials told the visiting Kelly that the North has a underhand program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

The six-way talks involving North and toward the south Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia will hie through Friday.

Japan, meanwhile, held no bilateral meeting Wednesday with North Korea. The sum of two units sides have been arranging a time and venue for as it was a meeting.

Tokyo room for expectations to discuss specifics on ways to make plain Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese nationals after raising the issue in a general way at the multilateral talks.

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