Little progress made in N. Korea nuclear talks

updated 12:13 p.m. ET Nov. 9, 2005

BEIJING - Negotiators trying to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions focused Wednesday on the contentious details of how the North will disarm and what it will get in exchange, with the U.S. and North Korean delegations holding a separate meeting.

Host China said little progress had been made by day’s end in the new round of six-nation talks.

Before the talks opened Wednesday morning at a Chinese government guesthouse, Washington affirmed its refusal even to discuss the North’s demand for a civilian nuclear reactor until after Pyongyang disarms.

The last round of talks ended in September with North Korea’s pledge to give up nuclear development in exchange for aid and a security guarantee. But the North raised doubts about its willingness to proceed by demanding a civilian nuclear reactor before it disarms.

The U.S. envoy warned that Washington will not discuss giving the North a reactor until it returns to the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and accepts safeguards from the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency.

“First they have got to disarm, create a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, and once they are back in the NPT with IAEA safeguards, at an appropriate time we’ll have a discussion about the subject of the provision of a light-water reactor,” said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.

China: Flexibility a must
The Chinese delegate, Wu Dawei, whose government appealed in advance for participants to be ready to make progress in the slow-moving talks, called on negotiators to be flexible and pragmatic.

In his opening statement, he asked negotiators to “put forward proposals and ideas so that we will be able to work out an implementation plan that is acceptable to all sides at an early date.”

By day’s end, little progress had been made, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

“We still can see that various parties have a difference of views on how to implement the joint statement and on the way it should be implemented,” Qin said at a briefing.

But, “all the six parties are working earnestly,” he said.

The talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

The North’s envoy, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, said Pyongyang would insist on verifying there are no nuclear weapons in South Korea and demand a guarantee from the United States that it has no plans to attack North Korea, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.

The United States has maintained it has no plans to invade the North.

In an editorial in the state-run media, Pyongyang also blasted Washington on Wednesday for its plan to station a nuclear aircraft carrier in Japan, saying it threatened to “ignite a new war.”

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