North Korean nuclear talks end in Beijing
china...@yahoo.com
persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapon programmes ended
in Beijing on Friday, officials said.
The meeting of the chief delegates from the United States, South Korea,
North Korea, China, Japan and Russia closed at around 1:10 pm (0510
GMT), following two-and-a-half days of talks.
The session, the first phase of the fifth round of talks, was aimed at
devising ways of implementing a September 19 agreement in which the
North committed to disarm in return for energy aid and other benefits.
Chairman and chief Chinese chief delegate Wu Dawei said the second
phase of the fifth round would be held "at the earliest possible date",
according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The refusal of the North to accede to demands on closing its
5,000-kilowatt experimental graphite-moderated nuclear reactor in
Yongbyon proved a major sticking point at the talks, US officials said
on Thursday.
US chief delegate Christopher Hill was scheduled to hold a press
conference shortly after the end of the talks.
The six-nation negotiation process began in August 2003.
The nuclear crisis was ignited in October 2002 when the United States
accused North Korea of running a secret uranium-enrichment programme.
The North responded by throwing out UN International Atomic Energy
Agency weapons inspectors and abandoning the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty. - AFP/ir