The Associated Press
Saturday, February 3, 2007; 1:44 AM

SEOUL, South Korea -- The main U.S. negotiator with North Korea was to arrive in Seoul on Saturday to coordinate strategies for upcoming six-nation talks on the North's nuclear program.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill was scheduled to meet his South Korean counterpart, Chun Yung-woo, and other officials during a three-day visit on how to make progress in nuclear talks set to resume Thursday.

Hill will visit Tokyo on Monday for similar discussions before flying to Beijing on Wednesday for the nuclear negotiations.

Hopes are higher than ever that the upcoming discussions with North Korea could yield concrete results amid indications that Washington and Pyongyang have narrowed differences over a key financial dispute that has hindered negotiations.

Before his departure, Hill said in Washington there is a "basis for making progress at this round."

The negotiations _ involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S. _ have made little headway since their first and only agreement in September 2005, in which North Korea said it would give up its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

Progress stalled soon afterward because of Pyongyang's objection to U.S. financial restrictions targeting the North for its alleged counterfeiting of U.S. currency and money laundering.

At the latest round in December _ the first after the North's October nuclear test _ Pyongyang refused to address disarmament issues and demanded the U.S. lift financial restrictions first. The North claims the measures show Washington's hostile attitude and illustrate its need for a nuclear deterrent.