Washington: A senior US diplomat will travel next week to South Korea, Indonesia and East Timor for talks with officials from all three countries, the State Department said.

Christopher Hill, the chief US negotiator for North Korea's nuclear disarmament, is not due to meet North Korean officials during his tour that begins in Seoul on April 1, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday.

"Christopher Hill will travel next week to the Republic of Korea, Indonesia and Timor-Leste for discussions with officials in all three countries on matters of mutual concern," McCormack told reporters.

On whether Hill, the assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, would meet North Koreans, McCormack said, "there are no such meetings scheduled during this trip."

Hill leaves Seoul on April 3 for a meeting in Bali sponsored by the US-based Asia Society and will meet with Indonesian officials in the capital Jakarta on April 4 before returning the same day to Bali.

The diplomat will travel to Dili, East Timor on April 6 before departing for Washington on April 7. No details were given about the substance of his talks on each leg of his Asia tour.

Hill, who frequently travels to Asia for six-party talks on North Korea, warned Tuesday that internal politics in Pyongyang could scuttle a deal in which the hardline communist state would have to end its nuclear weapons drive.

Hill's remarks came as North Korea refused to make a full declaration of its nuclear weapons programme and alleged proliferation activities as part of an aid-for-disarmament deal agreed to by the six parties - the United States, China, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia.
Source : PTI