S. Korea, U.S. in consultations for more nuclear talks with N. Korea

(ATTN: REWRITES; CHANGES headline) SEOUL, Sept. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States have begun consultations on Washington's planned contact with North Korea on stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear programs, a diplomatic source in Seoul said Saturday. The nuclear envoys of the two Koreas met in Beijing Wednesday to discuss terms for reopening the six-party forum that has been suspended since late 2009 but no tangible progress was reported. As part of an agreement with North Korea linked to the inter-Korean meeting in Beijing, the U.S. plans to hold separate discussions with the North on the nuclear and other issues of mutual concern. In Seoul on Friday, Edgard Kagan, visiting director of the Office of Korean Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, met with the deputy South Korean nuclear envoy, Cho Hyun-dong, to discuss the allies' joint strategy on North Korea, said the diplomatic source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. This week's meeting in Beijing between the two Korean nuclear envoys is the second of its kind. They met in Indonesia in July for the first time in more than two years. That meeting led to a rare U.S.-North Korea contact in New York. Although the Beijing talks produced little progress, both sides described their talks as "constructive and useful." Their first meeting in late July prompted senior North Korean and U.S. diplomats to meet in New York for preliminary discussions to gauge the possibility of resuming the six-party talks. After the second inter-Korean meeting in Beijing, South Korean officials said that Pyongyang and Washington were seeking to hold another meeting in a third country, possibly in Singapore or Geneva of Switzerland. The six-party talks, aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic and political aids, have been dormant since Pyongyang quit in April 2009 and conducted its second nuclear test a month later. Seoul and Washington have insisted that Pyongyang halt all nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment program, and allow U.N. inspectors to monitor the suspension as preconditions to reopening the six-party talks. North Korea, however, is pushing to resume the forum without any conditions attached.