The New York Times says the top U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill left his deputy in Seoul for the possibility of more talks in North Korea over the next few says.

The daily said Friday that Hill left his deputy in Seoul despite leaving Pyongyang without an agreement to halt reactivation of the North’s nuclear program.

U.S. State Department officials are known to be hopeful that the shaky deal on ending the North’s nuclear program might yet be salvaged.

The paper did not mention the deputy's name but speculation has it that it is Sung Kim, who visited Pyongyang several times as a special envoy.