Former U.S. nuclear negotiator Robert Gallucci expressed condolences Monday over the passing of his former North Korean counterpart Kang Sok-ju, saying the veteran diplomat was a "creative thinker" and a "skilled negotiator."

Kang, a former first vice foreign minister of the North, died Friday of esophageal cancer at age 76. He has long been a top foreign policy brain of the North and negotiated the Agreed Framework deal with the U.S. that defused the 1993-94 nuclear crisis.

"In 1993 and 1994, Kang Sok-ju was North Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister, who headed his delegation in talks that ultimately led to the signing of the Agreed Framework," Robert Gallucci, Kang's then U.S. counterpart, told Yonhap News Agency.

"I led the U.S. side in those negotiations. I found the deputy foreign minister to be an intelligent and creative thinker, as well as a skilled negotiator. I extend my condolences to his family," he said.

The 1994 deal, also known as the Geneva Agreement, committed the North to freezing and ultimately dismantling its nuclear program in exchange for two proliferation-resistant light water reactors for power generation, and the normalization of relations with the United States.

But the landmark agreement fell apart with the second nuclear crisis in late 2002, with revelations that Pyongyang had pursued a clandestine uranium enrichment program. The six-party talks were then launched in 2003 to defuse the crisis, but the standoff is still ongoing. (Yonhap)