CHINA: Six-party talks delegates arrive in Beijing as North Korea reiterates demands on lifting of financial curbs by United States.

The delegates of the upcoming round of six-party talks in Beijing held discussions ahead of the meeting scheduled to start early next week as North Korea reiterates its demands on the lifting of financial curbs by the United States. The delegations to the six-party talks met in Beijing on Saturday (March 17) morning for a working group discussion on denuclearisation of North Korea chaired by the Chinese, ahead of the start of the talks which are due to kick off on Monday (March 19). But the North Korea's chief nuclear envoy said his country would not not stop its nuclear development programme if the United States did not first lift financial curbs on North Korean accounts in a Macau bank. Kim Kye-gwan, addressing reporters on arrival in Beijing for a new session of six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, appeared in no mood to mince words. "We have not heard anything regarding the financial sanctions. If the funds frozen at Banco Delta Asia (BDA) are not completely freed, we are not going to stop our nuclear activities," he said "What I said was regarding the initial steps. We are not going to stop (our nuclear activities). As the initial steps, if the U.S. does not completely lift its financial sanctions on BDA, we are not going to shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facility," he added. The six-party talks struck an accord on Feb. 13 giving North Korea 60 days, until mid-April, to shut Yongbyon, the heart of North Korea's nuclear programme, in return for aid and security pledges. Washington agreed to defuse within 30 days North Korea's complaints about its crackdown on BDA, which the U.S. Treasury accused of harbouring illegal North Korean earnings. This week, the Treasury issued a formal ban on U.S. banks doing business with BDA, marking an end to an 18-month investigation and allowing Macau to unfreeze North Korean accounts found to be above board. North Korea has cited the bank dispute as the reason it stayed away from the six-party talks for over a year. The talks, grouping the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, resumed only after the North's October nuclear test drew a tide of international condemnation and U.N. sanctions. Asked about admitting nuclear inspectors, Kim said: "To confirm the fact that we have stopped our nuclear activities, IAEA personnel are supposed to come (into our country). But that is something to do after we stop our nuclear activities. Since we are not going to stop it, there is no reason for them to come in." U.S. envoy Christopher Hill repeated on Saturday that he did not believe the bank dispute would impede the nuclear talks. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Thursday (March 15) that he "deeply" regretted the American decision, which he suggested could destabilise Macau's financial system and harm the nuclear talks that restart on Monday. Hill said that he expected to hold talks with Kim about the bank issue and the nuclear negotiations before the formal six-party meetings, which begin on Monday (March 19). In response to assertions by Washington that North Korea has to make a full declaration of its nuclear activities, including a highly enriched uranium program the United States believes it has, Kim said the U.S. must first present evidence of any such findings. "We are willing to cooperate with the U.S. to clear away its suspicion of any HEU (highly enriched uranium) programme as long as they present any evidence," he said. The United States has said Pyongyang is trying to enrich uranium -- allegations that caused a 1994 U.S.-North Korea nuclear agreement to unravel and over which there is debate in Washington after U.S. officials acknowledged some gaps in intelligence. Uranium enrichment would be a second way to increase the stockpile of fissile material of North Korea, which last October tested a nuclear device made from plutonium produced by a reactor to be shuttered under the Feb. 13 disarmament deal.

ITN Source | March 17, 2007

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