Russia to play active role at upcoming six-party talks on DPRK
PLA Daily 2004-02-23
MOSCOW, Feb. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Russia intends to play an active role in the six-party talks to be held soon in Beijing on the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), a senior official of the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
Russia plans to hold bilateral meetings with all the parties, said the unnamed official, adding that emphasis is put on preliminary separate talks with representatives of the DPRK and the United States, Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The Russian delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, "expects a clear-cut statement from Pyongyang that it is ready to give up the nuclear program," said the official.
The official said the parties in the Feb. 25 talks in Beijing would discuss security guarantee to Pyongyang, the energy issue and other problems.
Losyukov has earlier said he did not expect a breakthrough in the forthcoming negotiations but he urged the United States to "attentively treat Pyongyang's readiness to freeze the nuclear program."
Losyukov said freezing the nuclear program is not the final goal and suggested that parties in the talks should seek understandings on the ways to move forward the negotiation process.
Russia suggested setting up a working group within the six-party framework to search for a settlement of the nuclear issue.
The first round of six-party talks was held in Beijing last August with Russia, the United States, China, the DPRK, South Korea and Japan participating in the talks. The talks ended without much progress.
The second round of talks is scheduled to be held in the Chinese capital on Feb. 25.
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