DATE=8/9/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=KOREA TALKS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-252625
BYLINE=GORDON MARTIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Four party talks, involving United States,
China, and North and South Korea, began in December,
1997 to try replace the temporary armistice that ended
the Korean war of 1950 to 1953 by a permanent peace.
The four countries have just held the sixth round in
the series. Gordon Martin reports.
TEXT: The talks opened last Thursday against the
unpromising background of North Korean threats to test
fire another missile to follow up the test a year ago
which sent a North Korean missile into Japanese air
space.
There was no expectation of progress or break through
and the final joint statement read by the Chinese
chairman of the round, ambassador Qian Yong Nian, was
indeed unable to record any significant movement.
Much of the round was taken up by meetings of two sub-
committees created to look at tension reduction on the
Korean peninsula and the establishment of a peace
regime there. But the final statement describing the
talks as useful and productive gave no details of
there substance.
/// Qian Act-Translator ///
In the sub-committees meeting, to discuss
tension reduction, the parties raised some new
proposals or reiterated previous ones. Each
party recognized from the current situation, on
the Korean peninsula, the importance and urgency
of tension reduction there. The parties
expressed hope to expedite the purpose of talks.
In the sub-committee meeting to discuss
specifics of the peace regime, the parties
tabled their respective ideas. Such in
expiration, help deepen the neutral
understanding of each other's policies on
establishment of a peace regime.
/// End Act ///
Ambassador Qian was at pains to deny any impression
that this latest round had achieved nothing. It had
in fact produced pure progress,he said since it had
laid the groundwork for more detailed talks later.
The Chinese delegation had tabled, he said, what he
described as draft plan for a peace regime on the
divided peninsula. And he said, the fact that the
four parties had proved ready to meet and to discuss
the issues calmly was, in itself, a move towards
tension reduction.
At the same time, he acknowledged that significant
differences remained, like North Korea's continued
demand for the withdrawal of 37 thousand U-S troops
from South Korea. Ask about the failure to set a
precise date for the next round of talks, Ambassador
Qian said the decision on the date will be delayed
until later.
A senior United States official saw it as a good sign
that Monday's concluding session had lasted so long.
He said that they've now gone beyond procedural
questions and were moving into some of the harder
areas.
The U.S. official confirmed that it was North Korea
which had blocked agreement on a date for new round of
talks, but he voices confidence that a date would be
fixed. "It's my expectation that come December we all
be here doing this again," he said. And he
categorically dismissed any suggestion that the four
party talks had been suspended.
The official played down the relevance of the
threatened North Korean missile test to the four party
talks which he stressed were designed to deal with the
replacement of the armistice. He expected further
talks on the missile question to be conducted
bilaterally between North Korea and the United States.
(Signed)
NEB/GM/TVM-T/PT
09-Aug-1999 22:24 PM LOC (10-Aug-1999 0224 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
