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2nd round of Beijing talks "ease tension": Russian official

PLA Daily 2004-03-01

MOSCOW, Feb. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- A high-ranking Russian official said on Sunday that the second round of six-party talks held in Beijing on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear problem "have somewhat eased the tension."

Fresh from the meeting in Beijing, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov described the talks as "modest" and "positive,"Itar-Tass news agency reported.

He confirmed that "there is still some progress" in the talks although "we could have achieved better results."

Losyukov said it is a positive move that Pyongyang "agreed to freeze its nuclear program," but it also requires reciprocal reactions, Interfax reported.

The Russian diplomat said that Pyongyang "considered a possibility of getting any compensations for this, including in the energy aid sphere," and Russia and China, which "are interested in the peaceful settlement of the issue more than othercountries," have expressed their support for the demand.

The deputy minister said that "no concrete progress" was made during the negotiations in settling the conflict, expressing his concern that mistrust on the peninsula would deepen, the situationwould exacerbate and military interference may become possible.

He hinted that a number of countries might attempt to blockade or restrict relations with DPRK if the negotiation process is stalled, which would greatly aggravate the tensions.

The US position remains firm and Pyongyang's nuclear ambition is still unclear as "nobody knows whether it has nuclear programs or not," he said.

Losyukov called for continued talks, particularly to promote dialog between the United States and DPRK.

Considering that the optimum time for the third round of six-party talks is the middle of the year, Losyukov said it is possible to hold the event in July.

The deputy minister stressed that the nuclear problem cannot bequickly resolved due to "a lot of political factors."

He is pessimistic about achieving any "serious progress" in thesettlement of DPRK's nuclear issue before the presidential elections in the United States.