Breakthrough in N Korea nuclear issue: Christopher Hill

A breakthrough has been reached in efforts to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme, according to America's top nuclear envoy Christopher Hill, who made the announcement during a White House briefing at the APEC summit in Sydney.

Mr Hill said Pyongyang had invited nuclear experts from the United States, China and Russia into the country to recommend ways of disabling all its atomic facilities by the end of the year.

Under the deal reached in February, North Korea agreed to relinquish its nuclear programmes.

Christopher Hill also said experts from the three nuclear states in the six-party talks would go to North Korea for the first time.