U.S and North Korean diplomats are due to hold a second day of talks in New York Friday.

After the first session Thursday, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, the head of a North Korean delegation, said the two sides exchanged views on general issues and called the atmosphere good.

Special envoy Stephen Bosworth is leading the U.S. delegation to the talks at the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York. It is the first face-to-face senior-level meeting between the United States and North Korea in 18 months.

The U.S. State Department called the talks “serious and business-like.” A spokesman said the talks are exploratory and aimed at sounding out North Korea to see if it is ready to live up to its commitment to give up its nuclear program.

In Seoul, South Korea's chief nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac said he is not very optimistic that talks with the U.S. and North Korea will yield quick results

The United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea have been trying to persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons. The North pulled out of six-nation talks on its nuclear program in 2008 and tested a second nuclear weapon months later.

South Korea has also been demanding an apology from the North for the sinking of a warship by what international investigators say was a North Korean torpedo in March 2009. The North denies the charge.

The South also wants an apology for a deadly artillery attack in November on a border island, Yeonpyeong. North Korea claims the South provoked the attack.