The “last work” on securing North Korea’s declaration of its nuclear activities is under way and six-nation talks could resume next month, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said yesterday.
Yu was speaking a day after a team of US experts met the top North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan in Pyongyang to discuss the declaration.
The group was led by Sung Kim, the director of the Korean Affairs office at the US State Department. It was due to return today to South Korea after crossing the heavily fortified border.
MOVING FORWARD
“North Korea’s nuclear declaration has been long delayed, but the US team is conducting the last work in Pyongyang,” the minister said in a speech. “If work is done as scheduled, I expect six-party talks to be held again within May so that the momentum can be maintained.”
Yu later told YTN TV news: “We don’t have much time left. I hope that progress will be made as early as possible in order for the six-party talks to maintain momentum.”
DETAILED LIST
Yonhap news agency said the US team would present a detailed list of data and other materials that North Korea needs to present for verification of its plutonium stockpile.
“North Korea is expected to submit a declaration before the end of this month if the US team’s activity goes well,” a government source told the agency.
Under a six-party deal last year North Korea was to receive energy aid and major diplomatic and security benefits in return for full denuclearization.
But the negotiations have been stalled for months by a dispute over the North’s declaration of all nuclear activities, which it promised to deliver by the end of last year.
Washington says Pyongyang should not only account for its plutonium program but also clear up suspicions about an alleged uranium enrichment program and suspected proliferation — claims denied by North Korea.
‘FACE-SAVING’
The North, in a face-saving gesture, reportedly will only “acknowledge” US concerns about the two issues in a confidential document to Washington.
The official declaration would deal with the plutonium program that fueled its nuclear test in October 2006.
The negotiations group the US, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia.
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