MOSCOW, February 20 (RIA Novosti) - High-ranking officials from Russia and the United States met in Moscow Monday to discuss the possible resumption of six-sided talks on the North Korean nuclear program, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
A ministry official said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alekseyev discussed the possible implementation of agreements reached during the fourth round of talks attended by North Korea, the United States, South Korea, Russia, Japan and China.
"The officials also discussed other issues of mutual interest," the ministry said.
Washington imposed financial sanctions on several North Korean companies for allegedly being involved in the production of weapons of mass destruction, and on a Macao-based bank suspected in the distribution of false 100-dollar banknotes allegedly made in North Korea.
The six-party negotiations began in August 2003 in a bid to persuade North Korea to give up its self-professed nuclear ambitions.
The fourth round started in Beijing in July 2005 after about a year's hiatus. The delegations agreed on the greater part of a final agreement, but failed to reach a consensus on some matters of principle and the talks were put on hold August 7 to give the delegates time to look for acceptable solutions.
At the latest round of talks in September, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees, but later refused to return to the negotiating table until Washington lifted financial sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its alleged involvement in counterfeiting and other illegal activities.
The six countries agreed in November 2005 to meet early this year to try to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs, but the talks were thrown into doubt after North Korea reacted angrily to Washington's imposition of sanctions. In early January, North Korea said it would not return to the negotiating table while the sanctions were in effect. Washington said the sanctions bore no relation to the talks.
