Six-Party Nuclear Talks Resume on February 8 in Beijing
It is officially announced by spokesman Jiang Yu from the Chinese Foreign Ministry that the fifth round of six-party nuclear talks will resume on February 8th. In his regular briefing to reporters, he clarified, “The six member countries finally have a set date for talks on North Korea's nuclear program, and the period of the talks will be open-ended, depending on the progress.”
Yu stated, “All the members will be coming together again in Beijing to negotiate on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. Even if the talks are a gradual and complex process, they are the optimal mechanism for peace on the Korean peninsula and nuclear threat-free environment around the country. China is hoping all negotiators will be pragmatic.” The Chinese announcement was made just ten minutes prior to US and North Korean BDA working-level talks.
According to diplomatic sources, US Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser and Oh Kwang-chol, the president of North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank have set their BAD working-level talks in the US embassy to Beijing from 3:00 p.m. The sources forecast that the two countries will try to spell out initial steps towards implementing the September 19th Joint Statement previously agreed upon among the members and rewards from the rest of the countries.
In particular, the five parties have already agreed on, and put into writing, a give-and-take strategy for the early stages of North Korea's nuclear dismantlement, saying that the early stage to be conducted by the North should be “dismantling” not “freezing” its nuclear facilities. The countries have their eyes on whether the US will partially release its restrictions on the North Korean frozen accounts on the bank in Macau.
Leaving Berlin after talking with his US counterpart Christopher HIll, top envoy from the North, Kim Key-gwan, satisfyingly said to reporters, “All things change, don’t they?” In his interview with Reuters News in Washington, Christopher Hill said, “We believe the North’s promise to give up its nuclear hope is very strong.”
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 / 입력시간: 2007. 02.01. 08:02
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