 |
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill gestures after a lunch with North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan in Beijing ahead of the six-party talks on Tuesday./REUTERS
|
 |
|
Talks on persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear program got off to an early start in Beijing Tuesday when chief delegates to the six-party nuclear talks held a series of informal two-way talks.
The concerned parties will probe each other's agendas before heading back to multilateral negotiations on Wednesday for the first time in over four months.
There, nuclear envoys representing the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia will try and nail down a work plan and a timeframe for starting phase two of Pyongyang's denuclearization.
Earlier Tuesday, Washington's point man for the talks Christopher Hill met with his North Korean counterpart Kim Gye-gwan at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. They continued their discussions over lunch at a restaurant.
South Korea and the U.S. want to fast track the second phase of North Korea's nuclear dismantlement which calls for Pyongyang to declare and eventually disable all of its nuclear programs.
 |
|
North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan waves as he arrives in Beijing ahead of the six-party talks on Tuesday./REUTERS
|
|
|
North Korea, however, says not so fast. As a pre-condition to proceeding to the next level Pyongyang says the U.S. must drop it from the blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism as well as lift trade sanctions.
Pyongyang has also indicated that for progress to be made Japan must show the will to tone down policies hostile to the North.
Arirang News
|
