Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=8/10/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=RUSSIA/KOREA (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-306331

BYLINE=BILL GASPERINI

DATELINE=MOSCOW

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// EDS: Can be used as alternate to China/Japan/North Korea, which moved as 2-306331 ///

INTRO: Officials from Russia and North and South Korea will hold talks in Moscow this week to prepare for six-way negotiations about North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Those later talks will also include China, the United States and Japan, possibly later this month. Bill Gasperini has more from Moscow.

TEXT: Russia's deputy foreign minister, Alexander Losyukov, is quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying the Moscow talks will take place on Tuesday, to pave the way for the broader talks to come.

Mr. Losyukov says Russia hopes to hold a similar meeting with Japan soon, as the pace of diplomacy picks up over North Korea's disputed nuclear weapons program.

Mr. Losyukov arrived in Beijing to meet with Chinese officials, including Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who just returned from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

China, which is to host the six-way talks, is seen as playing a key role in any negotiations, given its long-standing diplomatic and economic ties with the reclusive Communist North.

But Russia also maintains good relations with both North and South Korea, and has long played an intermediary role as well.

/// OPT /// The current crisis erupted last October, when U-S officials say North Korea disclosed it was pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program, as many nations had long suspected.

The admission led to a tense standoff with other nations, in particular the United States.

The situation worsened, when Pyongyang expelled United Nations weapons inspectors, withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restarted a nuclear plant that had been shut down as part of an earlier agreement in the early 1990s. /// END OPT ///

With each step, North Korea said its dispute was with the United States alone and insisted it would talk directly only with Washington about resolving the issue.

Then earlier this month, Pyongyang announced it would agree to the multilateral talks the United States, Japan and others wanted.

Since then officials of China, South Korea, Russia and Japan have been engaging in shuttle diplomacy preparing for the six-way meetings, which are expected to take place in Beijing at the end of August. (SIGNED)

NEB/BG/ALW/TW