A senior US official, who is specialized in Korean affairs, had preliminary talks with officials of North Korea over a full declaration of the latter's nuclear program, the State Department said Thursday.

Sung Kim, the director of the State Department's Office of Korean Affairs, "has had some preliminary meetings with officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

"He expects to have some more tomorrow," McCormack added without giving details.

Kim is expected to return home on February 3.

Kim's visit to North Korea occurs at a time when the United States has kept complaining that North Korea failed to announce "a complete and correct declaration" of its nuclear programs.

Under an agreement reached in October 2007 at the six-party talks, North Korea agreed to disable its key nuclear facilities at the Yongbyon complex, and to declare all other nuclear programs by the end of the year.

North Korea has denied that it had missed the deadline to submit that declaration, saying "other participating nations delay the fulfillment of their commitments,North Korea is compelled to adjust the tempo of the disablement of some nuclear facilities on the principle of 'action for action'."
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2008)