Seoul: In a bid to resolve the impasse over nuclear talks, North Korea may give the United States a confidential document addressing its concerns about the issue, a report said today.

The "confidential minute" will cover Pyongyang's alleged uranium enrichment programme and nuclear cooperation with Syria, two issues which have blocked progress at the talks, South Korea's Hankyoreh daily said.

Quoting diplomatic sources, it said a separate official declaration would only deal with the North's plutonium-based nuclear activities and its commitment to dismantling all nuclear facilities.

The daily said the United States proposed the confidential document as a face-saving measure for the communist state, which denies both the existence of a secret uranium enrichment project and any nuclear cooperation with Syria.

It will also meet a US demand that Pyongyang come clean on the two key questions before the six-party talks move forward, the daily said.

The United States has vowed not to make public the confidential minute and not to exploit it for political purposes, the paper said.

Christopher Hill, the chief US negotiator, said in South Korea on Wednesday he is awaiting a move in the next few days. He said differences over the North s promised nuclear declaration have narrowed but that time is pressing.

South Korea is cautiously optimistic that a breakthrough can be worked out within days, Yonhap news agency today quoted an unidentified senior foreign ministry official as saying.

Sources in Washington told the agency that Hill and his North Korean counterpart will likely meet in a Southeast Asian city early next week to resolve the dispute.
Source : PTI