BEIJING - The United States and North Korea held talks Tuesday on the financial restrictions Washington imposed on the country for alleged illegal activity.

The meeting coincided with international talks on the North's nuclear program that the North boycotted for 13 months because of the financial restrictions.

A US Embassy official confirmed the meeting had started but gave no details on where they were being held.

The US was represented by Daniel Glaser, the Treasury Department's deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes. The North Korean delegation was led by O Kwang Chol, president of the North's Foreign Trade Bank of Korea.