CHINA: THE UNITED STATES AND ITS ALLIES PARTICIPATING IN THE SIX-WAY TALKS TO RESOLVE NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR ISSUE MEET AHEAD OF THE THREE-DAY MEETING

Record ID: 338186

  • Title: CHINA: THE UNITED STATES AND ITS ALLIES PARTICIPATING IN THE SIX-WAY TALKS TO RESOLVE NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR ISSUE MEET AHEAD OF THE THREE-DAY MEETING
  • Date: 26th August 2003
  • Summary: (W4) BEIJING, CHINA (AUGUST 26, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY 0.05 2. MCU SECURITY GUARD 0.11 3. MCU CAMERAMAN 0.16 4. SLV/LV ACTIVITY WITHIN THE EMBASSY (2 SHOTS) 0.28 5. SV U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE JAMES KELLY COMING OUT OF BUILDING/ PEOPLE COMING OUT OF THE EMBASSY/ KELLY, DIRECTOR-GENER
  • Embargoed: 10th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AUGUST 26, 2003
  • Country: China
  • Reuters ID: LVA8NUM25FQIXQ5K2GT5LROZMRDI
  • Story Text: The United States and its allies participating in
    the six-way talks to resolve North Korea's nuclear issue
    meet ahead of the three-day meeting.



    The two protagonists of the six-country talks, North
    Korea and the United States, stand far apart before the
    six-country talks on Wednesday (August 27, 2003) that are a
    result of months of frantic diplomacy.

    On the eve talks, U.S., South Korea and Japanese
    diplomats met to coordinate their positions.

    Various bilateral meetings were also held, including
    one between the Japanese delegation headed by Mitoji
    Yabunaka, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian
    Affairs bureau of Japan's Foreign Ministry.

    Ten months into the crisis, the only real consensus
    among the five is that the Korean peninsula should remain
    free of nuclear weapons.

    Washington is demanding the unconditional and
    verifiable scrapping of Pyongyang's nuclear programme
    before making concessions and North Korea wants security
    guarantees before dismantling.

    Host China, keen to keep the dispute from escalating
    into a destabilising conflict or a refugee crisis on its
    northeast flank, called for respect and calm from all
    sides.

    The United States said last October that North Korea
    had admitted to a clandestine programme to enrich uranium
    to build nuclear weapons, violating agreements with the
    United States as well as its international commitments.

    The isolated communist state has since thrown out U.N.

    nuclear inspectors, become the first state to pull out of
    the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restarted its
    Yongbyon plant, sparking fears it may have reprocessed
    spent fuel rods there into plutonium for weapons.

    As the parties prepare for talks at the exclusive
    Diaoyutai state guest house from Wednesday to Friday
    (August 29), the United States and North Korea remain poles
    apart.

    Pyongyang has demanded concessions, including a
    non-aggression pact and an end to what it perceives as a
    hostile policy from Washington, before agreeing to anything
    on its nuclear programme.

    The United States, saying it will not give in to
    blackmail, wants the unconditional, verifiable and
    irreversible scrapping of the North's nuclear programme
    before budging on any concessions.

    Japan and, to a lesser degree, South Korea lean with
    the United States. Seoul has kept aid flowing to the North
    throughout the crisis and grows nervous when Washington
    talks tough. From North Korea's standpoint, Russia and
    China, its historic allies, are the least threatening
    figures at the table.

    China, provider of 70 percent of the North's fuel oil
    and food aid, has portrayed Pyongyang as an equal to
    others. Russia, a key player in bringing the North to talk,
    could act as a counterweight in talks that could tilt
    towards the United States.


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