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US Confident of Six-Way Talks

2003-11-10

WASHINGTON - The United States on Friday voiced confidence in an early resumption of six-party talks aimed at resolving the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, the Yonhap News Agency reported quoting State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

"We feel confident, as they (the Chinese) do, that another round can be put together," Boucher said, referring to an earlier meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and China's Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Wang Yi, China's chief delegate to the first round of the talks held in August in Beijing, briefed Powell on his trip to North Korea.

Wang's visit to Washington came after Chinese parliamentary leader Wu Bangguo brokered an agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last week concerning Pyongyang's participation in a new round of six-party talks.

Wang, who accompanied Wu on the visit to the North, met on Thursday with Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly, who headed the U.S. delegation to the Beijing talks.

The Chinese envoy gave Kelly a detailed briefing of the trip, including insights into Pyongyang's thoughts on Washington's offer of a multilateral security guarantee.

Boucher also reiterated the U.S. stance that Washington is not only willing to "provide security assurances in a multilateral setting, but also in writing."

In Bangkok in mid-October, during his Asia-Pacific tour, U.S. President George W. Bush expressed readiness to provide written security assurances to North Korea through the six-party framework if Pyongyang dismantles its nuclear weapons program.

North Korea, which has been demanding a bilateral non-aggression treaty with the U.S., seems to have softened its stance and has said it is ready to consider the guarantee proposal.

"Having discussed this fairly extensively with Vice Foreign Minister Wang, the secretary is encouraged at the prospect of new talks and encouraged at the possibilities of pursuing this route to reach a peaceful resolution of the problems created by North Korea's nuclear weapons programs," Boucher said.

China also showed optimism about the resumption of the talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. After holding talks with Powell for about 45 minutes, Wang Yi told reporters, "Preparations for a new round of six-party talks in Beijing have started."

The U.S. and Chinese confidence has raised the prospect that the next round of six-party talks on the North's nuclear ambitions will be held before the end of this year.

In the August Beijing meeting, the six countries agreed to continue the dialogue framework but failed to set a date for the next round of talks.

Source : www.korea.net