U.S., Japan say energy aid not discussed ahead of talks with North Korea

(AP) The U.S. and Japan have not discussed providing energy aid to North Korea ahead of talks aimed at getting the isolated communist nation to abandon its nuclear program, officials from the two countries said Tuesday.

Despite reports that North Korea plans to demand crude oil in exchange for shutting down a nuclear reactor and allowing limited inspections, Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. envoy to the six-party talks that begin Thursday in Beijing, said in Tokyo that negotiators from Pyongyang had not raised the issue.

He acknowledged there was room to discuss the matter under a September 2005 pledge in which North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

"I have not discussed this at all in my consultations with (North Korea), though I think it is quite possible that it will come up in our talks this weekend," Hill told reporters after a meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Kenichiro Sasae.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso also said the issue had not been discussed, and said Japan had no plans to provide energy aid _ reportedly one of North Korea's major demands in return for closing its nuclear reactor.

"There has been no progress on nuclear or abduction issues, and it is selfish (for North Korea) to only ask for energy support without making any concessions," he said.

Japan's Asahi newspaper reported Sunday that North Korea plans to demand more than 500,000 tons of crude oil a year in exchange for shutting down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and allowing limited inspections. The report cited Joel Wit, a former State Department official who met chief North Korean arms negotiator Kim Kye Gwan and other senior officials in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital.

North Korea was promised two light-water reactors under a 1994 deal to freeze its nuclear program, along with an annual supply of 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil until the reactors were built. The deal was scrapped in 2002 when North Korea admitted it had restarted its atomic program and later expelled IAEA inspectors.

Hill said earlier that the negotiations with North Korea are broad enough to include bilateral issues, including Japan's demands that the North provide more information on the disappearance of more than a dozen Japanese in the late 1970s and '80s.

The North, which has admitted that it abducted about a dozen Japanese to train its spies, has balked at including the abduction issue in the talks.

Other members _ South Korea, China and Russia _ have also been hesitant to divert the focus of the talks from the denuclearization issue.

Hill later met with Aso and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi separately and said the U.S. will cooperate with Japan on the kidnapping issue, according to a statement by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told the country's nuclear negotiators to show "creativity" and "a sense of balance" at the next round of nuclear talks.

"In the past, we used words, and now we will get into actions," Song told negotiators, set to travel to Beijing on Wednesday.

North Korea said that its intention to further bolster defense capabilities remains unchanged no matter how the situation may change, according to North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.

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Associated Press writers Bo-Mi Lim and Kwang-tae Kim contributed to this report.