U.S. envoy expects new North Korea talks soon

BEIJING — The U.S. envoy on North Korea’s nuclear program said today that a fresh round of high-level talks was expected soon.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said he believed there was “a basis for making progress” in the coming round of six-party talks.

Hill said he and his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, agreed on the need to try to revive the talks as soon as possible.

“We hope that the Chinese government will be able to announce soon the start-up of the talks,” he said.

The talks took on added urgency after North Korea alarmed its neighbors in October by testing a nuclear bomb. But the latest round ended in December in Beijing with no breakthroughs.