2nd round of six-party talks ready to start in Beijing

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 25, 2004

2nd round of six-party talks ready to start in Beijing

With all members of the six-party talks gathered in Beijing on Tuesday, the second round of talks on the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue is ready to start.

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With all members of the six-party talks gathered in Beijing on Tuesday, the second round of talks on the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue is ready to start.

The six parties, including China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan, have been busy holding consultations in the past two days to get better prepared for the meeting scheduled in Beijing at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The Chinese delegation, led by China's Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi, held consultations with the Russian side Monday. On Tuesday the Chinese delegation met with the other four delegations respectively.

Wang Yi said the second round of multilateral nuclear talks will start discussions with substantial content, which is an important symbol that the process of the talks will go deeply.

Wang said China is willing, together with all the parties concerned, to not only start the talks but also help see the talks continue and lead to concrete results.

DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said the DPRK's attendance at the talks is for the purpose of solving problems. The DPRK is ready to show flexibility during the talks and to strive to help the current round of talks to achieve substantial results, he noted.

James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United States, said the US side will continue to work for a peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula. He said the United States is ready to seek common points among the parties and remain patient during the talks.

Lee Soo-Hyuck, the ROK's deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Mitoji Yabunaka, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, said they will adopt an active attitude to strengthen communication and coordination with all the other parties to secure smooth progress of the talks.

Russian Vice-Foreign Minister Alexander Losiukov, who is leading the Russian delegation in Beijing, expressed "cautious optimism" on the upcoming six-party talks when arriving in Beijingon Monday, but he also admitted there were "a number of uncertainties" around the talks. Losiukov said the Russian side supports the DPRK's proposal of freezing its nuclear program.

The second round of six-party talks will be held again at the Fang Fei Yuan villa in the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, which also hosted the talks among China, the DPRK and the United States last April and the first round of six-party talks last August.

Over 600 journalists from home and overseas have applied to cover the event so far and schedules of press briefings will be released at the press office in the Diaoyutai Grand Hotel adjacent to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

Six delegations warm up for coming talks

With delegations from Pyongyang and Seoul arriving in Beijing Tuesday morning, all six parties are busying making their final preparations for the second round of Beijing talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, scheduled to open Wednesday morning.

Shortly after his arrival in Beijing, DPRK Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan consulted with Wang Yi, the Chinese chief negotiator.

Wang, also Chinese vice foreign minister, said no matter who is the head of the delegation, the DPRK will take a serious and responsible attitude toward the talks.

Kim told Wang that the DPRK is willing to show flexibility and work hard to strike concrete results in the new round of six-party talks.

Before leaving Pyongyang, Kim said the DPRK would do its best to achieve "good results" at the talks.

US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly expressed the readiness of the United States to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully and to seek common ground, saying the United States will be patient in the upcoming talks.

After consultation with the Russian delegation, Kelly walked out of the conference room smiling, saying the meeting was "very fine."

Lee Soo-Hyuck, ROK deputy minister of foreign affairs and trade, said the ROK will do its "utmost" to make the six-party talks a turning point in resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

He said the ROK delegation would present a detailed proposal based on the ROK government's previous three-phase proposal, adding that the proposal would enunciate the ROK stance on security guarantees and the freezing of the nuclear program.

The ROK would exchange views with the DPRK and brief the DPRK on the stance of the six-party talks agreed by the ROK, the US and Japan, aiming to make progress in the talks. The ROK, the US and Japan held a closed-door meeting in Seoul Monday for policy coordination before leaving for Beijing.

It was possible that the ROK side would revise its proposal on the six-party talks after exchanging views with the DPRK delegation, Lee said.

Mitoji Yabunaka, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry and head of the Japanese delegation, said the time since last August's first round of talks was well spent and Japan hoped to contribute to a good outcome.

After consultation with Russia, the Japanese said that both sides support the continuation of the talks and hope progress would be made in the new round.

As host, China has already exchanged views with the other five delegations. Wang said the forthcoming talks will start discussions on substantial questions. He urged various parties to respect each other and try to lay down specific goals for solving the problem.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said the relevant parties have all made earnest and active preparations for the talks.

ROK, DPRK agree to ensure good result of six-party talks

The delegations ROK and the DPRK agreed to ensure a good result of the second round of the six-party talks in their pre-talks consultation Tuesday evening.

Lee Soo-Hyuck said the two sides earnestly exchanged views on details of the forthcoming talks, including the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and the stance of each party. The consultation, in a pragmatic manner, was half hour longer than the originally planned one hour. The two sides also agreed to keep frequent bilateral contact in the talks.

The two sides spend a long time on consultation and exchange of views on freezing nuclear facilities. The consultation helped the two sides better understand each other's stand, said Lee. Showing optimism over the prospect of the six-party talks, Lee said China and DPRK, during their consultations with the ROK, both expressed that ROK would play an important role in the talks. DPRK and Russia delegations had consultations Tuesday afternoon. ROK and Russia will also have consultation Wednesday morning.

Six parties support solving Korean nuclear issue via dialogue: Wang

All the six parties involved in talks on the Korean nuclear issue have agreed to solve the issue peacefully through dialogue with the hope of continuing the talks, said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi here Tuesday.

Reviewing the consultations with related parties, Wang said the United States is willing to show patience, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is willing to show flexibility, the Republic of Korea has put forward some specific suggestions and Japan is willing to play an active role. Wang pointed out the complexity of the nuclear issue, noting that all the concerned parties still have a lot of differences in their opinions, especially the United States and the DPRK.

It is hard to predict the result of the talks since anything might happen, said Wang. However, China, as the host country, hopes all sides will show flexibility, build trust, narrow the gap and reach consensus, thus pushing the talks to achieve concrete progress.

Wang said the Chinese side holds an open attitude on the duration of the talks.

China regards this round of talks as "starting concrete discussions" and marking that the peaceful talks for solving the Korean nuclear issue have been deepened.

Russian deputy Losiukov calls for continuity of six-party talks

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losiukov said Tuesday that the most important task of the involved parties at present is to ensure that the process of the six-party talks be held and continued till the end.

He told local media in Beijing that the six parties should maintain the continuity of the talks on the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula and create a favorable working atmosphere for seeking a compromise on the issue through negotiations.

He said in an interview with China Radio International (CRI) that the relevant parties have fully recognized the importance of the talks and believe it will be the most effective way to solve the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula and realize normalization of relations among the relevant parties.

The Russian side believes that the existing problems and those to emerge in the process of the talks cannot be solved in one or two days or through just a few rounds of talks, Losiukov said. However, he said, if all relevant parties adopted an attitude of mutual compromise and concession during the talks, there would be every possibility that a universally acceptable agreement will be reached.

Noting that all relevant parties have expressed their wish that the second round of six-party talks would achieve progress, Losiukov said this made Russia reasonably optimistic about the results of the talks.

On the stances of Russia and China in the talks, Losiukov said both countries share the same principled stance on solving the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula. He had reaffirmed during a pre-talk consultation with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday that both sides agree that the issue can be resolved through dialogues, Losiukov said.

By People's Daily Online

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