DPRK seeks holding next round of six-party talks early 2004

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 28, 2003

DPRK seeks holding next round of six-party talks early 2004

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday expressed willingness to hold the next round of six-party talks early next year and continue the process of peaceful settlement of the peninsula's nuclear issue through dialogue.

A DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman told the Korean Central News Agency that both the DPRK and the Chinese side agreed that the next round of six-way talks was of great importance in solving the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi finished a two-day visit to the DPRK on Friday, and exchanged opinions with DPRK officials on holding the next round of six-way talks.

The spokesman also said the United States was laying an obstacle to the next dialogue. He accused the Bush administration of trying to disarm Pyongyang without changing its hostile policy.

This was against the peace solution based on the principle of simultaneous action, he said, adding that if Washington continues to hold such a stance, the very basis for dialogue would collapse.

He reiterated that the DPRK wants a "words for words" commitment at the next round of six-party talks in order to begin a first phase of action.

In exchange for the DPRK's freeze on nuclear activities, the United States and neighboring countries should take some relevant measures. The resumption of the talks in the future entirely depended on whether an agreement was reached in the first-phase step or not, the spokesman said.

The DPRK proposed first-phase action on Dec. 9, which included measures to delist the country as a "terrorism sponsor", and to lift the political, economic and military sanctions and blockade.

The action also included energy aid such as the supply of heavy fuel oil, and electricity provided by neighboring countries.

The six-party talks, attended by China, the DPRK, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, is a mechanism set to solve the nuclear issue.

Although no important breakthrough was made in the first round of the talks, which were held in Beijing at the end of August, all participants agreed to continue the multilateral negotiations in the next round of talks.

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