ROK, China Fine-Tune for NK Nuke Talks
2003-08-14
South Korea and China on Wednesday (Aug. 13) fine-tuned their stances ahead of the first round of six-way talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, which will be held on Aug. 27-29 in Beijing.
Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Yoon Young-kwan met with visiting Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing, who arrived here on Wednesday for a three-day visit.
During an hour of official talks and dinner together, the two ministers exchanged opinions on how best to induce North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions, with the Beijing side insisting Pyongyang's security woes also need to be addressed appropriately.
South and North Korean diplomats were in Moscow yesterday to pave the way for the six-way meeting. Seoul's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jae-sup and his North Korean counterpart Kong Sok-ung met separately with Deputy Minister Alexander Losyukov, Russia's top Asia expert.
In Washington, D.C., South Korean, U.S. and Japanese envoys also met to polish up their proposals to North Korea, particularly on how to deal with Pyongyang's demands for a nonaggression pact.
Laying out its cards ahead of the talks, a North Korean Foreign Ministry statement on Wednesday reiterated its demands that the U.S. must guarantee its security in written form and ruled out early inspection of the nuclear sites subject of controversy.
Meanwhile, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, in an interview with Australia's ABC television said talks are "probably starting around the 27th of this month in Beijing."
His statement were backed up by Russia Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov, who added the six nations would start informal events such as a banquet on Aug. 26 in the Chinese capital, according to the Interfax news agency.
Source : www.korea.net
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