Hill to go to China for N.Korea talks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill will go to Beijing this weekend for talks with Chinese officials on ending North Korea's nuclear programs, the State Department said on Friday.

"He'll have further discussions there with Chinese officials on how to move the six-party process forward," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.

Hill's meetings would take place on Saturday, Casey said. He did not know whether Hill's North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, would also be in Beijing for a meeting.

Hill told reporters in Bangkok his discussions with Chinese officials in Beijing earlier this week had been good and "there is an idea we might try to arrange something this weekend."

North Korea committed to abandon all nuclear weapons and programs in exchange for economic and diplomatic benefits under a 2005 multilateral deal.

But the accord between the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States is bogged down by Pyongyang's failure to meet a deadline by the end of last year to produce a declaration of its nuclear programs.

Hill, Washington's point-man on North Korea, also referred to this week's landmark orchestral visit to Pyongyang by the New York Philharmonic, saying the trip had helped the frosty relationship, but resolved nothing concrete.

"I am a strong believer in music, especially sometimes if they don't like the words, maybe they will like the music," he said in Bangkok. "Right now it is an unfinished work. I think artists can sell unfinished work, but diplomats cannot."

Hill visited Thailand as part of Washington's restoration of links to Bangkok following a December election that returned democracy after a September 2006 coup. He was scheduled to visit Vietnam on Sunday after the Beijing meetings.

(Reporting by Darren Schuettler; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Michael Battye and Sugita Katyal)