Six-party talks aiming to end North Korea¡¯s nuclear ambitions resumed at Beijing¡¯s Diaoyutai Guest House on Tuesday, with no shift in position from either Washington or Pyongyang on the sticky question of the North¡¯s right to a civilian nuclear program, including a light-water reactor it was promised a decade ago.
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The North Korean delegation to the six-party talks headed by North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, left, and the U.S. delegation led by Christopher Hill, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, right, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to attend the second stage of the fourth round of the six-way conference aimed at finding a resolution to the North Korean nuclear weapons issue.
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The talks went into recess last month after the two sides failed to reach agreement on a statement of principles. Pyongyang¡¯s chief negotiator Kim Kye-gwan told the Xinhua news agency his country ¡°needs¡± a light-water reactor. ¡°We will not accept the U.S. infringing upon or preventing us from exercising our right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,¡± he said.
U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill who arrived on the same plane as his South Korean counterpart Song Min-soon, said the talks would pick up where they left off before they adjourned. In the last draft statement before the break, the words ¡°light-water reactor¡± were missing. Insiders say Hill has made it clear in talks with Seoul that reviving the light-water reactor project, which was suspended when the North tore up the Non-Proliferation Treaty, is not an option.
Song, for his part, was cautious about progress. ¡°There is not enough of a reason for us to have optimistic expectations, but we don¡¯t need to think pessimistically either,¡± he said.
The U.S and North Korea reportedly met for bilateral talks, as did the two Koreas.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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