U.S., DPRK officials due to meet in New York

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. chief nuclear envoy Christopher Hill is due to have talks with Ri Gun, a senior official from Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in New York later Thursday, the State Department said.

Hill will be in New York on Thursday "to participate in a working dinner with Ambassador Ri Gun, director general for North American Affairs at the DPRK Foreign Ministry," State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told a news briefing.

Also on Thursday, Sung Kim, director of the office of Korean affairs at the State Department, will have talks with DPRK officials in New York.

Wood did not specify the scheduled meetings. Instead, he said the two sides will focus on the progress of the six-party talks. "And we'll obviously be talking verification," the spokesman said.

It was reported that during its one-week stay in New York, the DPRK delegation will also attend an event Friday organized by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, a non-governmental organization.

Following a two-day trip to Pyongyang by U.S. chief nuclear envoy Christopher Hill, the United States removed the DPRK from its terrorism list on October 11 after the two sides reached the agreement on verification measures over the latter's nuclear program.