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China, S. Korea discuss North nuclear talks
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China, S. Korea discuss North nuclear talks
China’s ambassador on the North Korean nuclear standoff began discussions in South Korea yesterday to fine-tune positions on resuming six-way talks aimed at resolving the 21-month-old crisis.
Ning Fukui, who heads China’s working-level delegation to the talks, met South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yong to hammer out an agenda and details for meetings expected this month to prepare for a fourth round of senior-level talks in September.
“I believe it is now time to have specific discussions on how to call a working-level meeting and how to have a good fourth round of talks,” Ning told Cho before their closed-door meeting.
Ning’s visit comes after the U.S. point man on North Korea, Joseph DeTrani, held talks with Ning in Beijing last week. He left without announcing a date for the working group session, but Japanese media have mentioned Aug. 11-14 as possible dates.
The two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China have held three rounds of talks in Beijing aimed at eliminating Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programmes and addressing the North’s security and energy concerns.
They have agreed to meet again before the end of September.
“We only have two months before the scheduled fourth round of talks at the end of September,” said Ning, who is due to travel to Tokyo on Tuesday.
Top US officials have urged North Korea to emulate Libya and to trade nuclear arms for better ties with the West and for assistance to the impoverished, energy-strapped country.
North Korea said last month the advice to copy Libya was “nothing but a sham offer”.
Officials and analysts say the apparent rejection does not mark Pyongyang’s formal reply to a U.S. proposal to defuse the crisis. The US plan is based on suggestions by South Korea and Japan that would involve energy aid to the North after it pledges to disarm.
The crisis erupted in October 2002 when US officials said the North had admitted to a covert programme to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. Pyongyang has since denied such a programme.
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