Six-Way Talks States’ FMs to Meet in Singapore

Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) – The foreign ministers of the six nations involved in talks over North Korea’s nuclear disarmament will meet in Singapore next week, a South Korean government official said Friday.

The meeting would mark the first gathering of the top diplomats from the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia, and Japan aimed at discussing the nuclear issue, although their lower-level nuclear envoys have held several rounds of negotiations in Beijing.

“China, which chairs the six-way talks, proposed that the six nations’ foreign ministers convene on July 23 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum,” the Foreign Ministry official said, asking not to be named. “South Korea and the other parties accepted it.”

He expected the planned meeting to provide yet another boost to the six-way talks, whose latest round was held last week. North Korea agreed to disable its main plutonium-producing facilities by the end of October and allow on-site inspection of its nuclear complex by US and other foreign experts for verification of the recent declaration of its atomic weapons programme.

“It would be meaningful itself for the foreign ministers to discuss what chief delegates (to the six-way meeting) have talked about,” the official said. “It is expected to inject momentum into future negotiations on the third phase of the dencuclearization process.” He was referring to the last stage of the process under which the North’s nuclear programme would be dismantled.

The talks in Singapore are expected to last for about one-and-a- half hours, but no joint statement or documents are likely to be released, he added.

Originally published by Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 0223 18 Jul 08.

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