North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill met for four hours March 5 for talks and dinner in New York.

Kim and Hill met again the next day amid rising expectations of improved U.S. relations with a country President George W. Bush called part of an "axis of evil" five years ago, along with Iran and prewar Iraq.

This is the first U.S. visit by Kim, North Korea's top nuclear negotiator, since the international standoff over the North's nuclear ambitions flared in late 2002.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 10, 2007
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