Singapore: Top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said on Friday he expects difficult six-party talks next week on North Korea's nuclear disarmament and that more work needs to be done to iron out verification details.

Hill, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, met North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan in Singapore for two days of discussions to set the tone for the six-party talks in Beijing next week.

"I can't say we have agreed on anything at this point, but we certainly had a good exchange of views on primarily the issue of the level of specificity and what verification is going to look like," Hill told reporters after the talks.

"I'm sure the negotiations will be as usual, difficult."

Analysts said the six-party talks in Beijing take on extra importance because they are the last under U.S. President George W. Bush and North Korea may try to extract concessions from an outgoing administration keen to score diplomatic success.

Many obstacles have held up the disarmament agreement struck in October during stop-start negotiations between North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia.

There had been concern the latest round in Beijing, which have not been formally announced, might not proceed. Kim said he saw no reason they should not go ahead.

"There hasn't been official announcement, but we have no objections," he told reporters after meeting Hill.

Source : Reuters