All six envoys involved in the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue
burnt the midnight oil trying to hammer out a deal, but no
agreements have yet been announced.
Instead of returning to their hotels, all chief negotiators
remained in the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse for a series of
one-on-one and multilateral talks from Monday 10 AM to Tuesday 2:30
AM, according to Qin Gang, spokesman of the Chinese delegation.
Qin briefed the press on early Tuesday morning that the
consultation would continue into Tuesday, hailing the 16-hour-long
multilateral consultations as "extraordinary intensive", Qin
said.
The six parties have made their "utmost efforts"
with some positive results have been achieved, Qin said, adding
these needed to be further confirmed.
A final version of China’s draft for a joint document was
distributed, according to US top negotiator Christopher Hill. He
described it as "excellent", but it still needs to be approved by
the respective capitals of each delegation.
"I think we made a lot of progress. I'm encouraged by this. We
might be able to take a real step towards denuclearization", Hill
said
Echoing Hill's comments, Russian representative Alexander
Losyukov said that the overall text of the draft was good but
expressed his feeling that differences remained on certain
details.
The first version of the draft, circulated last Thursday,
apparently proposes shutting down nuclear work in the DPRK within
two months, including the Yongbyon reactor, and supplying Pyongyang
with alternative energy sources.
"If the draft is finally adopted by various parties, it is
definitely a breakthrough (on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue)",
the Russian chief negotiator said.
The long-awaited "breakthrough" may be near at hand, given the
ROK chief negotiator Chun Yung Woo’s announcement that the six
parties had reached preliminary agreements on the initial steps of
the denuclearization process and energy cooperation with the
DPRK.
"Since the text of the draft still needs final approval from
their respective home countries of the six parties, I'm not sure it
will come out today or tomorrow", Chun added, highlighting the
probable delay that could precede any agreement.
According to Chun, the DPRK side has already green-lit the draft
and expressed its "basic satisfaction" over the figures mentioned
within it.
The final stumbling block could be Tokyo since Japanese
negotiator Kenichiro Sasae stated Japan would seriously study on
the final version of the draft, indicating it was unlikely to be
100 percent satisfactory to Japan as the document has to cover the
interests of various parties.
"I have to report the final draft to my country and decide our
measures," said Sasae.
To coordinate differences, China held several rounds of
bilateral meetings with the DPRK and the United States from Monday
afternoon to Tuesday morning, whilst the DPRK and US envoys also
met one-on-one.
Envoys from China, the DPRK, the United States, the ROK, Japan
and Russia reconvened in Beijing on Thursday following a 48-day
recess.
However, the talks stalled over the energy aid to the DPRK
following consultations on a Chinese draft, which involves the
moves the DPRK would undertake to abandon its nuclear program in
return for economic aid and security guarantees.
(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2007)
