All sides participating in the Six-Party Talks in Beijing Tuesday reached consensus to ship all promised economic aid to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by the end of March, Republic of Korea envoy Kim Sook said.
DPRK was promised 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid in total – about half of which has been delivered – after Pyongyang agreed to a disarmament-for-aid pact last year.
But the denuclearization process stalled amid a standoff with the US over nuclear verification in August.
The aid has been a sticking point in the Six-Party Talks as Japan refused to send its share saying Pyongyang must first address the kidnappings of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s.
The DPRK partly disabled its Yongbyon nuclear facility this year as part of the disarmament-for-aid deal but slowed down the process, citing sluggish economic compensation.
Negotiators on Tuesday fell short of agreeing on rules to verify Pyongyang's declaration of its nuclear programs.
"If we can get through this, it would be an important milestone, but with the understanding that there is still a long way to go," chief US envoy Christopher Hill said after the second day of negotiations.
Hill said he was unsure what the DPRK thought of China's latest draft proposal, distributed on Tuesday. "I don't know where the DPRK is on that," he said.
But "the Chinese obviously did a lot of work on it overnight, tried to address everyone's concerns. Obviously, that's not easy to do", Hill told reporters.
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao Tuesday urged all parties to exercise "patience and wisdom" as they negotiate over the verification methods.?
(Agencies via China Daily December 10, 2008)
