A Japanese daily says a letter written by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was given to North Korean officials when a delegation of U.S. experts visited Pyongyang earlier this month.

The Sankei Shimbun Friday quoted an official familiar with the six-way nuclear talks as saying that former U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Stephen Bosworth delivered Clinton’s letter to the North Korean officials.

According to the report, in the letter, Clinton urged Pyongyang to swiftly complete the verification of its nuclear facilities within the six-nation dialogue framework.
But Bosworth denied Sankei’s report, saying he had simply visited the North as a U.S. citizen, not as a representative of the United States government.

Bosworth and six other experts on Korean affairs visited Pyongyang for five days earlier this month. It was the first such visit to Pyongyang since the launch of the Obama administration.