By Seo Soo-min
Staff Reporter

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly on Thursday said now is an important moment for the realization of a second round of six-way talks to defuse the North Korean nuclear crisis.

``It’s a key moment,’’ Kelly said in a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck at the Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry in Seoul to coordinate details for the next six-party meeting, which is expected by the year’s end.

Kelly, Washington’s chief negotiator for the talks, is on the final leg of an Asian tour after stops in Tokyo and Beijing. He leaves South Korea on Friday.

Kelly will begin meetings with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov in Washington on Monday.

The top U.S. policymaker for East Asia yesterday discussed the six-way talks in meetings with Ban Ki-moon, presidential foreign policy advisor, and Kim Hee-sang, presidential advisor for national defense.

``We exchanged opinions on the ways of addressing the nuclear problem and how we can allay the North’s security concerns, as well as the timing for the second talks,’’ Deputy Foreign Minister Lee said after a two-hour meeting with Kelly.

The allies are still ``in the process of drafting the basic contents that will fill in the second six-way talks,’’ he added.

Lee is to meet with Kelly again this morning.

It is believed that an announcement of the dates for the six-way talks is imminent, with mid-December emerging as a possibility.

However, Kelly upon arrival Monday said his country is not yet certain on whether another session of six-way talks is possible in December.

``We have a lot of detailed work to do at this stage,’’ he said.

Accompanying Kelly on Thursday was Joseph DiTrani, the U.S. State Department’s new special envoy for negotiations with North Korea who took over after Jack Pritchard quit in August.

ssm@koreatimes.co.kr