CHINA: Six-party talks kick off on an optimistic foot in Beijing after the resolution of a financial spat between North Korea and the U.S

Six-way talks opened in Beijing on Monday after a U.S. Treasury official announced that a financial dispute with the North had been resolved - clearing the way for a smoother denuclearisation of the reclusive state. Earlier, envoys heading toward the six-way talks venue say they look forward to reaching a resolution over North Korea's frozen BDA funds. Six-party talks opened in Beijing on Monday (March 19) to resume discussions on details to a broad February accord that could lead to disarmament. Envoys from the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia gathered in the capital's exclusive Diaoyutai State Guesthouse to kick off the long-running talks, soon after the the U.S. announced on Monday morning that North Korea would receive disputed funds held in a Macau bank, clearing up a financial dispute. The Feb. 13 deal gave North Korea 60 days to shut its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in return for aid and security pledges. Washington also agreed to settle North Korea's complaints about the bank crackdown within 30 days. "We've had some 30-day actions and one of them has been to resolve the BDA issue, and that has been done, and I think it has been done to mutual satisfaction. And then we have also looked at the completion of the working groups in the thirty-day time frame, and we have been able to get that done. And so now we are going to look at sixty-day requirements. So, there are a number of those. First of all I think the DPRK (North Korea) has gotten off to a good start with the IAEA, with Mr. ElBaradei's visit to Pyongyang, and we look forward to that process continuing in the next thirty days so that we will have the shutdown of the Yongbyon facility - the sealing of it and the monitoring of it by IAEA," U.S. envoy to the talks, Christopher Hill, told reporters before heading out to the opening session of talks. The agreement struck by the six-parties stipulated the secretive state would receive 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil or equivalent aid for shuttering Yongbyon. After the sixty-day period, it would receive another 950,000 tonnes of fuel oil, or equivalent aid, when it takes further steps to disable its nuclear capabilities. Hill said there was much to do in the meantime. "We would also look forward to making sure that the first shipment of fuel oil, which is called for in the February agreement, reaches DPRK within the sixty-day time frame. And then looking beyond for the additional fuel oil and the additional milestones of denuclearisation we will need to synchronise those steps - it involves some very important steps including the disablement of the North Korea nuclear programme, and as well as the issuing of a full declaration in return for considerable amounts of fuel oil and some economic assistance. And I think we will just continue on that. And for that reason we have a lot of work to do in the next couple of days," said Hill. South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo said resolving the dispute over frozen funds had cleared the way for progress in denuclearising North Korea. "Now that the BDA problem is resolved there should not be any major obstacles to implementing the steps to shutdown North Korea's nuclear facilities within the 60 days," Chun Yung-woo told reporters waiting in his hotel lobby. Japanese envoy Kenichiro Sasae noted that the BDA affair had been an obstacle. "As a result of the negotiation, we are seeing certain resolution to the so-called financial issue between U.S. and North Korea that's been a bottleneck to the six-party talks," Sasae said before leaving for the opening of talks. But neither should negotiating parties hope for a quick fix, he added. Earlier on Monday, U.S. Treasury official Daniel Glaser announced the bank moves ahead of the opening ceremony of the six-party talks. "The United States and North Korean government have reached an understanding on the disposition of DPRK (North Korea)-related funds frozen at Banco Delta Asia. The DPRK has proposed the transfer of roughly 25 million dollars frozen in BDA in an account held by North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank at the Bank of China in Beijing. North Korea has pledged within the framework of the six-party talks that these funds will be used solely for the betterment of the North Korean people, including for humanitarian and educational purposes. We believe this resolves the issue of the DPRK-related frozen funds," Glaser told reporters waiting at his hotel. Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that U.S. banks would be barred from business with BDA, marking an end of its inquiry and opening the way for Macau to release North Korean money. The Feb. 13 deal gave North Korea 60 days to shut its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in return for aid and security pledges and Washington also agreed to settle North Korea's complaints about the bank crackdown within 30 days. North Korea says freezing the BDA funds was the reason it boycotted the six-party talks for over a year until last December. The disarmament talks resumed after the North's October 2006 nuclear test drew a tide of international condemnation. os/

ITN Source | March 19, 2007

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