First-day session of six-party talks useful, US says

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 26, 2004

First-day session of six-party talks useful, US says

The United States said Wednesday the first-day session of the second round of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue was ''useful.''

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The United States said Wednesday the first-day session of the second round of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue was ''useful.''

''We found the session to be useful, with all the delegations stating their positions in opening presentations,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.

He confirmed that US and DPRK officials met bilaterally Wednesday on the sidelines of the six-party talks that began Wednesday in Beijing.

''The purpose of side meetings at talks like this is to try to discuss the elements of the bigger discussion and to try to look for what the parties that are talking on the side can do to make progress in those discussions in the more formal sessions,'' Boucher said.

He did not go into specifics about the bilateral session with DPRK.

The first round of the talks, bringing together DPRK, South Korea, the US, China, Japan, and Russia, was held last August, also in Beijing.

Boucher reiterated the US position that DPRK has to dismantle all its nuclear arms programs, including uranium enrichment, in a ''complete, verifiable and irreversible'' manner.

''Denuclearization means we need to eliminate all the nuclear programs, all the enrichment programs, all the weapons programs,'' he said.

The US says DPRK has been engaged in a program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons, but Pyongyang has denied the allegation.

Source: Agencies

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