The chief US negotiator to the six-party nuclear talks said on
Wednesday night that the US side felt it "worth continuing" the
discussion, after the six parties agreed the talks to extend to
Friday.
"We feel it is worth continuing this discussions," Assistant US
Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters at the hotel,
adding the US side are "encouraged about the progress and are
pleased to stay a couple of days".
He said head of the delegation's meeting was held on Wednesday,
at which all the parties agreed to extend for another two days
through Friday night.
Formally known as the second phase of the fifth round since
2003, the fresh talks involved China, North Korea, the United
States, South Korea, Japan and Russia, with focus on the
implementation of the joint statement in September 2005.
Under the joint statement, North Korea agreed to abandon its
nuclear program in exchange for economic aid and security
guarantees.
Hill confirmed that he had informal meetings with his North
Korea's counterpart Wednesday and that the two sides may meet again
Thursday.
"We have a couple of bilateral talks, informal meetings with the
North Korea. I also talked with Kim Kye Gwan," said Hill.
He said the discussions were "frankly very difficult", as they
were discussing actual development on the ground and "there was a
lot of give and take, a lot of questions".
"We managed to work through some of the issues, but whether we
can start implementing the agreement this weekend...time will
tell." Hill said.
(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2006)