Geneva: The top US nuclear negotiator said that he made progress in nuclear talks with North Korea, but still is short of an agreement on reviving Pyongyang's disarmament.

Assistant US Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters that the talks in Geneva yesterday were probably the most substantive that Washington has had with North Korea since problems developed in December over disarming Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

"We are going to report to capitals and see where we are tomorrow and the next day," Hill said after meetings with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan.

He said there were no immediate plans for further meetings in Geneva. Hill said agreement still needs to be worked out on a full North Korean declaration of its nuclear weapons program.

"I don't want to suggest that we have paved the way and are waiting for the cement to dry," Hill said. Kim separately denied allegations that North Korea had a secret uranium enrichment program or that it had any connection with a nuclear program in Syria.

"We did not have, we don't have and we will not have," Kim said. Hill said North Korea had maintained its position on uranium enrichment and on proliferation.

"We have really had to challenge and to work with them on (that)," he said, adding that, "I am not really in a position to tell whether we have resolved that except to say that I think we have made some progress today."

Source : PTI