US sees better prospects for new talks on DPRK nuclear issue

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 08, 2004

US sees better prospects for new talks on DPRK nuclear issue

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US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that the prospects of holding a new round of talks on the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula are improving after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced suspension of its alleged nuclear programs.

"Even though we haven't had a six-party meeting for some time, I expect that the prospects of having one are improving," Powell told reporters after a working lunch with visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio.

Powell said that discussions among the parties concerned over the nuclear issue are still going on despite the absence of formal talks since August last year.

"Discussions have never stopped. We are in conversation with the Chinese, the South Koreans, the Japanese, the Russians," he said.

"We've been hard at work laying out our position and what we believe should be the result of the next six-party meeting. And so a lot of work has been going on," Powell added.

"The statement made by the North Koreans (people of DPRK) ... is a positive step forward. It is not a breakthrough or anything revolutionary, but it is a positive step forward," he went on.

"And the reaction from the region has been a good one, and some of our other colleagues in the six-party framework have expressed appreciation for the North Korean (DPRK's) statement. And I hope that this will improve the atmosphere for the talks," he said.

The secretary said that the United States wants concrete result coming out of next round of six-party talks which, apart from the United States and DPRK, also involves China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

"We really just don't want another set of talks that are the exchange of old positions. We want something that will result in a step forward," Powell said.

In a statement released by DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, Pyongyang said that it "is set to refrain from test and production of nuclear weapons and stop even operating nuclear power industry for a peaceful purpose as first-phase measures of the package solution."

Source: Xinhua

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