WASHINGTON, Aug 23: The US negotiator in talks on dismantling North Korea’s suspected atomic arms programme predicted on Tuesday the sides can overcome a key difference over Pyongyang’s right to develop peaceful nuclear power.

“I think we can come up with something,” Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters. “But I cannot be more specific than that because we are in the middle of a negotiation.”

The United States has differed with South Korea and Russia at six-party talks, which also include Japan and China, over North Korea’s demand that it can have the right to eventually develop civilian nuclear programmes for power generation.

But in what could be a crucial move to forge an agreement when talks are due to resume next week, Hill suggested the United States could be flexible.

In the past, Washington has insisted that even if North Korea scraps its military programmes it must give up the right to develop peaceful nuclear power because of fears it could use those programmes for building atomic weapons.

But Hill played down North Korea’s demand. It was a ‘theoretical, downstream’ issue and it would be difficult for North Korea to restart any nuclear development after it scraps its programmes under a negotiated deal, he said.—Reuters