CHINA: U.S., South Korean and Japanese negotiators at nuclear talks with North Korea break for dinner following a discouraging day of meetings in Beijing

Negotiators from the United States, Japan and South Korea took a break from nuclear talks with North Korea on Thursday (December 21) to share a dinner together. The Beijing six-party talks -- bringing together the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China -- are heading towards a fifth day of negotiations with little visible progress in convincing Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions. Coming out of the upscale Korean restaurant, U.S. envoy Christopher Hill seemed downbeat about the prospects of a resolution. "I wish I could say I was more optimistic but I am not more optimistic. Today was a very long day. We exchanged a lot of opinions. And at this point I can't really express any sense of optimism. We will see how it goes in the next day," said Hill. South Korea's negotiator Chun Yung-woo said the dinner was an opportunity for the three allies to compare notes. "Since we are at the crucial stage of six-party talks, it is necessary for South Korea, the United States, and Japan to share their positions with each other and decide on a possible solution. That is why we are having this dinner," said Chun. Earlier a South Korean official said the North refused to budge without a U.S. climbdown on accounts frozen at Macau's Banco Delta Asia (BDA) -- which Washington says was a "willing pawn" through which Pyongyang engaged in counterfeiting and money-laundering. But returning to his hotel after dinner, Hill told reporters that Pyongyang's financial problems would continue unless it agreed to scrap its nuclear weapons programme. "What I am here to do is talk to about de-nuclearisation. I am not here to talk about the financial problem. There is one thing that anyone involved in de-nuclearisation can predict -- that as long as they stay in this nuclear business they are going to have more and more and more financial problems," said Hill. Separate talks between North Korea's foreign banking arm and U.S. Treasury officials ended on Wednesday (December 20) with no breakthrough on the finance dispute. Japan's envoy accused Pyongyang of using the financial dispute to drive a stake into a proposed deal. "It is not very clear where today's meeting was heading. North Korea has not changed its stance on the financial sanctions. They are very rigid and not showing flexibility. That is the biggest problem the six-party talks are facing right now," Kenichiro Sasae told reporters in the hotel lobby. The six envoys got back together about 10 weeks after North Korea carried out its first nuclear test, drawing international condemnation and UN sanctions backed even by China, its chief aid-provider. On Monday (December 18) , North Korea's chief negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, laid out sweeping conditions, including lifting UN sanctions and the U.S. financial crackdown. But Pyongyang appears to have taken a more pragmatic tack in subsequent talks.

ITN Source | December 22, 2006

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