(LEAD) Top nuclear envoys of S. Korea, U.S. to meet this week

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with Hill's plan to visit two Koreas; CHANGES headline, lead)
By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- Top nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States will meet this week in Seoul to fine-tune their positions ahead of the U.S. envoy's planned visit to Pyongyang to persuade North Korea to accept a verification regime for its nuclear declaration, South Korea's foreign ministry officials said Sunday.

Christopher Hill, deputy secretary of the U.S. state department, will visit Seoul for talks with South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Kim Sook, on Tuesday, the officials said.
Hill then will likely fly into Pyongyang on Wednesday or Thursday, they said.
The planned trip comes on the heels of North Korea's threats to reactivate a
reprocessing plant at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, which would make it
able to extract more weapons-grade material from spent fuel rods.
The six-party talks on scrapping Pyongyang's nuclear programs have stalled as
Washington delayed its promise to take the North off a list of
terrorism-sponsoring countries in return for the communist state's nuclear
declaration.
Pyongyang is calling for Washington to make good on the promise, but the U.S.
says the North should first agree on a verification protocol.
Seoul officials said the U.S. and North Korea have been consulting to resolve the
dispute through the "New York channel," referring to the North Korean mission to
the United Nations.
Hill's trip draws keen attention since it may produce a breakthrough in the
stalled denuclearization process. He visited the reclusive nation twice last year
by way of Seoul for talks on advancing the disarmament talks.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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