Thursday, July 28 2005 11:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: The United States (US) and North Korean delegations today (July 28, 2005) held an unscheduled third bilateral meeting here, on the sidelines of the six-party talks that seems to have hit a major roadblock on how to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programmes.

The delegations of the United States and North Korea held their third one-on-one meeting, attempting to narrow their differences in the ongoing talks aimed at de-nuclearising the Korean Peninsula.

The outcome of the North Korea-US bilateral consultations is widely believed to have an impact, to a large extent, on the development of the current round of six-party talks, which also involves China, South Korea, Russia and Japan, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The in-camera meeting took place at the Diaoyutai State Guest House between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan.

Due to the unscheduled Hill-Kim meeting, a scheduled main meeting of the six countries was delayed in the morning, diplomatic sources said.

Sources yesterday (July 28, 2005) said talks have hit a roadblock and a senior US official said the focus of the meetings should be the de-nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.