BEIJING, July 25: The United States and North Korea held a rare one-on-one meeting on Monday, with the American side stressing it was time for “real progress” to be made in reversing the North’s drive for nuclear weapons. The contact came a day before the reopening of six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear arms programs that were broken off last year.

With Washington hinting it might soften its tough stance to break the deadlock, top US negotiator Christopher Hill said the two sides needed to review the situation.

“I want to stress these are not negotiations. We are just trying to get acquainted, to review how we see things coming up and compare notes,” Mr Hill told reporters before the 75-minute talks started.

It was the first time that the US and North Korea have held bilateral contacts before the six-party process, which seeks an end to the North’s nuclear arms drive in return for diplomatic and economic benefits.

The multinational talks have been held three times before, ending inconclusively each time. North Korea abandoned the talks last year and has since claimed it already possesses nuclear weapons, heightening tension over what the International Atomic Energy Agency calls the world’s most dangerous nuclear proliferation issue.

“We have to produce an agreement this time. There was a dialogue conscious of such a goal,” a South Korean government official said after his nation’s talks with the US delegation.—AFP