CHINA: North Korea said it was still looking for ways to restart nuclear negotiations that stalled last year but would not unilaterally give up nuclear weapons

North Korea said on Thursday (November 30) it was still looking for ways to restart nuclear negotiations that stalled last year but would not unilaterally give up nuclear weapons. Pyongyang's nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan told reporters in Beijing that he had met with his counterparts from the United States and South Korea to discuss restarting six-party talks aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear weapons programme. "I met up with the U.S.'s Christopher Hill to talk about the resumption of six-party talks and also I met up with our fellow Korean Chun Yung-woo to discuss the problems with the six-party talks. The result will emerge after more negotiations," Kim said after coming out of talks with South Korean chief negotiator Chun Yung-woo. But Kim said North Korea would not give up its nuclear weapons programme unilaterally. "According to the Joint Statement there are a lot of agreements. And about giving up nuclear weapons, we cannot unilaterally give them up," he said. Under the deal signed in September last year, North Korea agreed in principle to scrap its nuclear weapons programme in return for economic and security incentives. South Korea's negotiator Chun Yung-woo said he had discussed realistic solutions with Kim. "We have exchanged views about the resumption of six-party talks and also the solution for making realistic progress." He hinted at obstacles, but didn't specify. "In addition we still have a lot of problems that involve reaching peaceful agreements. And nobody disagreed about the progress that we should make after the resumption of six-party talks. We also exchanged views on the specifics, and we still have more agreements to reach," he added. Negotiators from North Korea, South Korea, the United States and host China have been meeting in Beijing this week looking for a way to push for an early resumption of talks, but no date was set. North Korea agreed to return to the talks -- which involve South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia -- after its first nuclear test last month triggered U.N.-backed sanctions. U.S. officials have said they want North Korea, without condition, to stand by last year's agreement in which it said it was committed "to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs." In return, the other nations held out economic, political and security incentives. Pyongyang agreed to return to the talks after Washington said it was willing to address the impoverished state's concerns about financial curbs, tightened in 2005 when U.S. regulators named Macau's Banco Delta Asia as a conduit for illicit North Korean cash from currency counterfeiting and drug trafficking. But the North has also said it would be unthinkable for it to resume talks until Washington ended the financial restrictions. ae/fc

ITN Source | November 30, 2006

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