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| Sunday, 31 July 2005 |
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Nuclear talks enter uncharted territory BEIJING, July 30 (Reuters) - North Korea nuclear crisis talks entered uncharted territory on Saturday, with host China presenting a draft joint statement for discussion by the six parties in the longest negotiating session yet. The main protagonists, the United States and North Korea, appear as entrenched as ever, diplomats say, with Pyongyang sticking to its demands for security guarantees and aid and Washington insisting the nuclear programmes be dismantled first. The North had even rejected a South Korean offer of energy aid in exchange for scrapping its nuclear programmes, the JoongAng daily said, citing an official in Seoul. North Korea wants the energy aid and light-water nuclear reactors too, it said. Still, the first round of six-way talks in more than a year has seen an unprecedented level of contact between the U.S. and North Korean sides, who have met for talks six times already this week after refusing to budge from scripted position statements in three previous rounds. "I have the impression that the United States and North Korea have deepened their understanding of each other's positions after hours and days of bilateral discussions," a Japanese delegate said on Saturday. "But I believe the two sides remain far apart," he said. "Our work to draft a joint document will get into full swing today." A South Korean official said China had presented a draft joint statement for discussion. Previous rounds have failed to secure a common position. U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill said on Saturday: "Seriously, we will have a lot of discussion about text to see if we can come to some agreement among the six." The talks have come a long way from the early days of the administration of George W. Bush, when the president labelled North Korea part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and pre-war Iraq, or even from early this year when his secretary of state called Pyongyang an "outpost of tyranny". This time the discussions involving the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, Japan and China have remained open-ended. If lacking in major concessions so far, they have featured a more thorough airing of viewpoints that the parties hope could point to possible consensus. |
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