Pyongyang's demand for a civilian nuclear reactor before North Korea will scrap its atomic weapons programme is "inexcusable", the chief U.S. envoy to the country's nuclear talks was reported as saying on Sunday, according to Reuters. South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill as saying a senior North Korean diplomat would "deeply regret" the up-front demand for a light-water reactor, made in an interview on Thursday. Yonhap did not provide a complete quote from Hill, who was speaking to reporters at Seoul's international airport prior to a meeting with his South Korean counterpart to six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programmes. U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment. In Thursday's interview with Yonhap in Washington, Han Song-ryol, deputy chief of North Korea's United Nations mission, said Pyongyang would not even give details of its atomic programmes and weapons until the reactor has been built for it. The next round of the talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States is likely to take place in the week of Nov. 7, the parties said.
