soon BEIJING, Jan 22, SPA -- The U.S. envoy to talks on North Korea's nuclear program said Monday he believed there was potential for progress in the next round of negotiations and that China would soon announce a start date. The comments follow pledges by the key players, Washington and Pyongyang, to strive for progress in the slow-moving negotiations, the Associated Press reported. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill toldreporters that Washington was disappointed with the lack of progress in the December round but that he believed there was «a basis for making progress» when negotiators meet again, without giving details. Separate talks between the U.S. and North Korea on thefinancial sanctions issue were also expected to resumesoon, but no date or location had been fixed yet, Hillsaid. «I think they will be very soon, probably the same timeor before the six party talks,» he said. Hill said that in talks Sunday with Chinese Vice ForeignMinister Wu Dawei, the two sides agreed the high-levelnegotiations should start again «as soon as possible.» «We hope that the Chinese government will be able toannounce soon the start up of the talks,» he said. China,the host of the negotiations, is expected to arrange a datefor the talks with the parties to the talks, includingNorth Korea, Japan, South Korea, and Russia, Hill said. North Korea's Kim arrived in Beijing Monday for talks with the Chinese side, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, without giving specifics. South Korea's nuclear envoy, Chun Yung-woo, also arrived in Beijing for talks and a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said on customary condition of anonymity that he was to meet China's Wu. Hill was due to return to Washington Monday after a tour to brief Japan, South Korea and China about his meeting in Berlin with Kim. The two sides agreed then to restart talks as soon as possible and strive for concrete progress.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/419864