CHINA: Nuclear negotiators from North and South Korea arrive in Beijing to talk timings for the next round of negotiations.

Beijing sees a buzz of diplomatic activity as nuclear negotiators from North and South Korea arrive for meetings with Chinese officials. Talks on dismantling the North's nuclear weapons programme could resume in two weeks, Washington's envoy says. North Korea's envoy to six-party talks, Kim Kye-gwan, arrived in Beijing on Monday (January 22) for talks with Chinese officials. The Chinese government could announce a date soon for a resumption of the six-party negotiations that broke off in December, according to Washington's envoy Christopher Hill. China hosts the six-party talks, which also group the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia. They began in 2003 with the aim of persuading impoverished Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear arms development. Chun Yung-Woo, South Korea's envoy, also arrived in the capital city on Monday (January 22), and was greeted by a swarm of reporters. "I am here in Beijing to meet with Wu Dawei (China's chief negotiator) to discuss ways to open the next round of six-way talks and ways to discuss ways to bring practical progress to the talks," he said. The urgency of making headway in the six-party talks has grown since the reclusive communist state defied international warnings last October and conducted its first nuclear test, triggering U.N. sanctions. The last session of the talks in December appeared to be making progress on how to implement a September 2005 statement promising North Korea economic and political assurances in return for nuclear disarmament. But those prospects unravelled, with Hill blaming the North Korean negotiators' insistent focus on U.S. financial restrictions and their lack of authority to negotiate on the nuclear deal.

ITN Source | January 22, 2007

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