Positive signs on first day of nuke talks in Beijing
By Hu Xiao and Qin Jize (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-27 06:01

Besides the DPRK and the US, delegates from China, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and Japan also expressed support for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

The ROK has formally proposed to provide the DPRK with 2 million kwh of electricity starting in 2008 if Pyongyang agrees to verifiably scrap its nuclear programme.

"I hope our offer of electricity will become an important pillar for successful negotiations," the ROK delegation chief Song Min-soon said.

He called on other countries to normalize relations with the DPRK and guarantee its security if Pyongyang gives up its nuclear ambitions.

Song, however, raised an oblique objection to the Japanese delegation's insistence on raising the DPRK's past abduction of Japanese nationals during the talks. He called on all negotiators to concentrate on the nuclear issue.

"It is not ideal for the parties concerned to be distracted from this target (of building a nuclear-weapons-free Korean Peninsula) during this round of the Six-Party Talks," Song said,

Qin Gang, a spokesman for the Chinese delegation, said the first day of talks had laid a "sound foundation." But he quoted Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing as saying there are still "hard issues" ahead.

There may be "new difficulties and twists and turns," Qin said.

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