Kim Kye-gwan, top negotiator of North Korea to the six-party nuclear talks, met with his Chinese
counterpart Wu Dawei in Beijing yesterday.
Wu confirmed the meeting when he talked with Internet users on
the Xinhuanet.com website.
According to Wu, also vice foreign minister, Kim briefed the
Chinese side about his meeting with his US counterpart Christopher
Hill in New York early this week.
China hopes the upcoming new round of six-party talks will
produce more progress, and all relevant sides will make
constructive efforts in this regard, Wu noted.
Five rounds of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear
issue have been held since 2003. The new round of talks is due to
begin on March 19 in Beijing.
China has proposed a working group meeting on denuclearization
be held on March 17, and is waiting for responses from the other
five sides, according to Wu.
He suggested that before the opening of the sixth round of
talks, three working groups meet on March 17 or 18. The other two
working groups' meetings will be arranged by Russia and South Korea
respectively in accordance with the agreement reached by the six
parties.
The six parties, namely China, the US, Russia, Japan, North and
South Korea, adopted a joint statement on September 19, 2005, and
reached consensus during the last round of talks on the initial
steps to implement the statement.
The steps include establishing five working groups on
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the normalization of
North Korea ties with the US and Japan, economic and energy
cooperation, and a Northeast Asia peace and security mechanism.
For the venue of the working groups' meetings, Wu said it is up
to the organizers to decide. He also said more multilateral
consultations are needed to ensure the progress of the new round of
talks.
During the talks last month, the five parties agreed to provide
North Korea with economic, energy and humanitarian aid equivalent
to 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil in the near future.
China, South Korea, the US and Russia are the first countries
participating in the provision of aid.
"We hope, and also believe, that Japan could actively
participate in the relevant process," Wu said, calling on the
parties concerned to get over difficulties in bilateral ties and
make constructive contribution to realizing the overall goal of the
six-party talks.
Wu reaffirmed China's readiness to carry out its obligations on
the issue.
"As one of the six parties to the talks, China has undertaken
relevant duties and obligations, and we will earnestly implement
them," he said.
Invited by North Korea, IAEA Director-General Mohamed El Baradei
will visit the country on March 13. "We believe it is an important
step taken by North Korea and the IAEA to improve their ties," Wu
said.
China hopes the visit can help realize the initial actions, he
added.
"Due to various factors including historical ones, a serious
lack of trust between relevant countries has been the biggest
problem for the six-party talks, making the negotiations difficult
to take every step forward," Wu pointed out.
He said China hopes that relevant countries can increase
contacts and build up mutual trust via the platform of the
six-party talks. "Once there is mutual trust, any big problems can
be easily solved," he said.
"Due to their different national conditions, histories, cultural
traditions and economic and social development levels, the six
countries each have their own concerns in the talks," Wu said.
China has been striving to help identify the junctures where the
interests of the six parties meet, he noted. On this basis the
relevant parties will take concrete actions to carry out relevant
commitments and enhance mutual trust to lay a more solid foundation
for expansion of common interests and realize lasting peace in
Northeast Asia.
(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2007)
