China, U.S., North Korea to Resume Talks

Breitbart.com
October 31, 2006

China, the United States and North Korea agreed in talks Tuesday to resume the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programs "at a convenient time in the near future" after a break of almost a year, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

Christopher Hill, U.S. head delegate to the six-party talks, told reporters after meeting with his Chinese and North Korean counterparts that while the precise date needs to be agreed by all six parties, he believes it will be "in November, or possibly in December."

The announcement was made after a series of meetings in the Chinese capital among Hill, who is U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan on the same day.

Hill said North Korea did not attach any conditions for returning to the talks, but added the United States agreed to set up a mechanism for addressing Pyongyang's main complaint -- financial sanctions imposed on entities suspected of laundering money and counterfeiting for North Korea.

"We agreed we will find a mechanism within the six-party process to address these financial measures, that there would probably be some kind of a working group to deal with this," he said.

North Korea had refused to return to the talks, saying it will not do so unless the United States lifted the sanctions, especially those imposed on a Macao-based bank since September 2005.

Hill also said North Korea reaffirmed its commitment to a joint statement issued in September 2005 by six nations, in which it had said it would abandon its nuclear programs in exchange for diplomatic and economic benefits.

"We all reaffirmed, including the DPRK delegation, our commitment to the September statement and to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," he said.

DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

While the six parties -- which include South Korea, Japan and Russia -- met again in November 2005, the talks have been not been held since then.

Defying international warnings, North Korea test-fired missiles in July and carried out its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, prompting the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution on Oct. 14 to impose financial and arms sanctions on Pyongyang.

Hill said Washington does not accept North Korea as a nuclear state.

"I made very clear that the United States does not accept the DPRK as a nuclear state, and neither does China, and neither does most anyone else," he said.

As for the possibility of another nuclear test by North Korea, Hill said, "I think that obviously to go ahead and have another nuclear test would be entirely inconsistent with the meetings we just had, so I think it's self-evident that they should not engage in these kinds of provocations," he said.

Earlier Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters, "We believe that restarting the six-party talks itself could bring about a new start in the Korean Peninsula situation, could become a factor that could relax the Korean Peninsula situation."