Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Dawei and his DPRK counterpart Kim
Kye-gwan yesterday discussed the current situation of the Korean
Peninsula denuclearization process, as well as the second working
group meeting of the six parties.
Kim also met with US top nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill.
Hill and negotiators from the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan and
Russia reached Beijing yesterday.
They, along with Wu and Kim, will proceed to Shenyang, capital
of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, for the two-day six-party
working group meeting from Thursday.
Hill, who is also the US assistant secretary of state, is
scheduled to hold one-on-one talks with Wu today.
The Shenyang meeting is aimed at preparing the ground for
progress at the next full session of disarmament talks in Beijing
in a few weeks, Hill said.
"We want a clear idea about what's involved in disablement,
what's involved in declaration so that when we have our six-party talks... we can make real progress,"
he said.
It is important to have successful working group meetings and
the six parties will probably list their options on how to
implement the second phase of disabling the DPRK's nuclear
facilities
The "declaration and disablement" process is the second most
important phase of the landmark pact signed on February 13 that saw
the DPRK agree to end its nuclear program in return for fuel,
security guarantees and diplomatic concessions.
The chief delegates to the six-party talks agreed at their last
meeting in July to hold the working group meetings by the end of
August to pave the way for a full session in early September,
followed by a meeting of their foreign ministers.
The Shenyang meeting follows one on energy aid held in the
Korean border truce village of Panmunjom last week.
The Russia-chaired working group meeting on establishing a peace
mechanism in Northeast Asia is scheduled for later this month. The
exact date and place, however, are yet to be decided for the two
other working group meetings for normalizing ties between Japan and
the DPRK, and the US and the DPRK.
(China Daily August 14, 2007)
