Hill arrives in N. Korea for talks

Story Highlights

• Rice informed Japan's foreign minister about Hill's visit, Japanese official says
• Hill will spend night in North Korea, South Korean media reports
• Visit comes days after unfrozen North Korean funds began transfer back

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TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- U.S. envoy Christopher Hill arrived in North Korea Thursday for talks on the next moves to be made under a nuclear disarmament agreement reached earlier this year, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had called Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso to tell him about Hill's visit to Pyongyang, said Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki at a news conference.

Hill had already left Seoul and would spend the night in North Korea, then return to the South on Friday, South Korean media reported, citing South Korea Foreign Ministry sources.

North Korea reached a tentative agreement in February on a deal to begin to close down its nuclear program in exchange for $300 million in energy and financial aid.

The United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia have been holding talks with North Korean officials since 2002 in an effort to shut down Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Earlier Thursday, Hill told reporters that the United States hopes the next round of North Korea nuclear negotiations will take up matters other than inspections and a banking dispute.

Hill's visit comes days after $25 million in North Korean funds, frozen in a Macau bank for nearly two years and a sticking point in nuclear talks, began being transferred back to North Korea.

CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae and Junko Ogura contributed to this story