Asia-Pacific

N.Korea ready to discuss nuke disarmament

(AP)
Updated: 2007-02-08 12:46

The North had earlier demanded the financial restrictions be lifted for it to disarm, and refused to talk about anything else at the last nuclear talks in December.

The lack of progress at the arms negotiations has raised the issue of the credibility of the talks. Since 2003, they have produced only a single agreement in September 2005 on principles for the North to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and pledges that Washington won't seek the regime's ouster.

Negotiators said taking the first steps toward implementing that agreement would be key at this week's talks, which bring together China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas.

"The real success will be when we complete the full September '05 statement, not just when we start," Hill said after arriving in Beijing. "We're not going to finish that this week. We'll just maybe take a good first step."

The US envoy said Washington was "ready to implement all of the joint statement," including economic and energy aid, but declined to give specifics.

Before leaving Tokyo for Beijing, Hill said there were positive signs at the Germany meeting but that he expected "some rather hard bargaining" in Beijing.

"This round of the six-party talks could be called a watershed," Japan's envoy Kenichiro Sasae told reporters. "It's important that we take concrete steps."

The White House is keen to prove it isn't recreating Washington's 1994 deal with North Korea made under former President Clinton that the Bush administration has harshly criticized for its failure to hold the North accountable.

Seeking to stem such criticism, Hill emphasized Wednesday that a new disarmament plan would be different from the 1994 US-North Korea pact because it would include other regional powers.