The chief U.S. negotiator in six-country nuclear talks, Christopher Hill, could visit North Korea this weekend after stopping off in Japan and South Korea this week, observers speculated Tuesday. U.S. State Department and diplomatic sources in Seoul said Hill leaves Washington on Tuesday U.S. time to visit Tokyo on Wednesday and Seoul on Thursday. He will then fly to Beijing for the next round of the six-party talks in early December.

Some observers predict that he will use the gap between the Seoul and Beijing trips to visit North Korea. Diplomatic sources speculated he could go to Pyongyang on Nov. 30, Dec. 1, or Dec. 3, where he could discuss the next step in the North’s denuclearization process -- declaring all nuclear programs -- with officials there.

A South Korean official said Hill is likely to urge the North Koreans to frankly declare all its nuclear programs including a suspected uranium enrichment program it has so far denied and the total amount of plutonium it has produced. On June 21, Hill made a surprise two-day visit to North Korea right after the operation of nuclear facilities at Yongbyon was suspended under a six-party agreement.

(englishnews@chosun.com )