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Participants at six-party talks in Beijing on North Korea¡¯s nuclear program agreed Sunday to continue negotiations focused on the principles of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a peaceful resolution to the stalemate. But Washington and Tokyo expressed dissatisfaction with a rough statement drafted by China on Saturday which they said was vague on denuclearization and that made no reference to fresh issues introduced by the U.S. including human rights and Pyongyang¡¯s conventional missiles.
Officials from the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the U.S. said they agreed to keep concrete measures or the level of compensation for North Korea for scrapping its nuclear program out of the statement, deferring a potentially bitter debate over what should come first: the Stalinist country giving up its nuclear program or Washington taking steps to normalize ties with it.
U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill, who proposed such a statement of principles last week, said Sunday differences in opinion between his country and North Korea remained a major element in the negotiations, but six or seven basic principles would be included in the statement. South Korean officials also pointed to a persistent gulf between the two main parties.
South Korean chief negotiator Song Min-soon and Hill met on Sunday to coordinate their negotiating strategy. All six chief negotiators met together and in separate bilateral sessions at the Diaoyutai State Guest House, where they tried to hammer the statement of principles into shape.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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