U.S. Looking Beyond NKorea Nuke Shutdown

U.S. envoy on the North Korea nuclear issue, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, reacts as he talks with South Korean counterpart Chun Yung-woo during their meeting at the government house in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 16, 2007. North Korea is ready to start disabling its nuclear programs following the shutdown of its sole operating reactor, as long as Washington lifts all sanctions against the communist nation, a North Korean diplomat said. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, Pool) (Lee Jin-man - AP)

"We have never had a quarrel with the North Korean people," he said. "We have wanted to help the North Korean people and will continue to look for options, look for ways which we can do that."

The United Nations' humanitarian aid chief also expressed hope Monday that progress on the nuclear issue will make it easier to provide help to North Korea, where he said humanitarian groups still find access difficult despite crop failures and natural disasters in recent years that caused widespread food shortages.

But Undersecretary General John Holmes said in Geneva that U.N. food assistance was not contingent on North Korea agreeing to give up its nuclear program.

"We were happy to provide food aid," he said. "This was a humanitarian issue. It has nothing to do with politics."

Hill acknowledged process in talks with North Korea will be difficult and will require both Pyongyang and Washington to be flexible.

"Anyone who's been in a negotiation _ whether you're buying a car or buying a nuclear shutdown _ realizes it takes time," he said. "It's frustrating, you have ideas, the other guy has ideas. You have to compromise and get it done."

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Associated Press writers Jae-Soon Chang and Mari Yamaguchi in Beijing contributed to this report.