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The six nations concluded their second-day talks aimed to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula Wednesday with no evident progress in narrowing their differences being made.
China, the US, Russia, Japan, South and North Korea held a plenary session yesterday morning, followed by bilateral meetings.
No result was achieved in the six-party talks yesterday, the second day of the event, said Russian delegation head Alexander Alexeyev.
"There are still substantial and even conceptual differences between North Korea and the US," Alexeyev, also deputy foreign minister of Russia, was quoted by the Interfax as saying.
"One of the issues talked about was that of highly enrichment of uranium," said a US official. "We did not achieve an agreement with them. But we did agree to keep talking about that."
The US official said there are still fundamental differences among the parties.
On the other hand, top North Korean negotiator Kim Kye-gwan has reportedly said his country will never dismantle its nuclear program unless it gets full US diplomatic recognition.
He also demanded the removal of a US nuclear umbrella for South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, the South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted sources as saying.
"Our goal is to get rid of US nuclear threats to us and make the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons," Kim was quoted as saying. "It is necessary that the US promises to end its hostility and ensure a peaceful coexistence with our country."
The US official said the US and North Korea will hold another one-on-one meeting today, which Russia's Alexeyev said may influence the result of six-party talks to a large extent.
He said that all the six parties remained cautiously optimistic about the current round of talks.
Chinese delegation head Wu Dawei yesterday called on all sides to seize opportunities, meet challenges and work together with their "utmost political courage" to create a better future for Northeast Asia.
The South Korean delegation proposed that "two pillars" should be set up in seeking a solution to the Korean nuclear issue.
A South Korean official, unwilling to reveal his name, said the proposal was made by Song Min-soon, head of the South Korean delegation and deputy foreign minister, in a keynote speech when addressing the plenary meeting in the morning.
Song was quoted as saying that this round of talks should result in a common document such as a common declaration.
The "two pillars," which should be included in the common document, refer to the promise on North Korea to give up its nuclear program and the promise of the other parties to normalize their relations with it, provide a security guarantee and economic cooperation.
The South Korean delegation said the common document should take "words for words and action for action" as a precondition and all the sides should carry out the measures they have agreed on in order to show the principle of "acting simultaneously."
Japan will closely cooperate with the other five countries with a constructive attitude in the talks, Japanese delegation head Kenichiro Sasae said yesterday in his keynote speech at the plenary session.
"As for North Korea's promise to scrap its nuclear programs, we will pledge to provide 'security guarantee' for the nation," Sasae said. "In regard to energy aid, we appreciate the 'important proposal' (to provide 2 million kwh of electricity to the North) raised by the government of South Korea."
(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2005)
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