US seeks no "unusual" checks on N.Korea nuclear works

By Jack Kim

BEIJING, July 12 (Reuters) - The United States was seeking a standard package of measures to verify North Korea's own account of its nuclear programme, its envoy said on Saturday as negotiators try to move ahead on disarming the communist state.

The talks by six countries aimed at coaxing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programme are the first in nine months and come after Pyongyang last month produced an inventory of nuclear activities, one of the key steps pledged under a broad disarmament-for-aid deal.

"We want basically standard kinds of package of how you verify this type of nuclear programme," Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters.

"We're not asking for anything unusual. We're asking for things that are done all over the world."

South Korean officials said while there was progress at talks on providing energy aid to the impoverished state in return for steps to eventually dismantle its nuclear programme, differences remained between the North and the rest on how to verify the North's declaration.

Negotiators from North and South Korea, Japan, Russia, the United States and China are seeking to push forward a disarmament deal that saw Pyongyang freeze and begin disabling its Yongbyon nuclear plant.

In exchange for those steps and for handing over last month the declaration originally due at the end of 2007, North Korea has been receiving much-needed energy aid and was also promised improved diplomatic relations with the United States and Japan.

The formal negotiating session is expected to end on Saturday while working-level officials stay on to try to draw up a verification guideline. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Valerie Lee)