US Says Singapore Talks on North Korean Nuclear Issue “Useful Opportunity”

Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

[Yonhap headline: "US Hopes To Discuss N. Korea's Uranium, Proliferation at ARF: Rice"]

Washington, July 21 (Yonhap) – Foreign ministers of six countries involved in North Korea’s denuclearization will discuss North Korea’s alleged uranium enrichment and nuclear proliferation Wednesday in Singapore at a regional security forum, the top US diplomat said Monday.

“I think what we’ll do is we’ll certainly review progress in the second phase,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters on a flight on her way to Singapore to attend the annual ASEAN Regional Forum.

“And that it has to be a verification protocol that can give us confidence that we are able to verify the accuracy of the North Korean declaration, and that we have a way to address proliferation as well as all nuclear programmes, including highly enriched uranium,” Rice said, according to a transcript released by the State Department.

On the margins of the ARF in Singapore, Rice is set to attend the unprecedented meeting of foreign ministers of all six countries attending the five-year-old multilateral talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

However, she said she “wouldn’t put too much weight on this meeting.”

“This just seemed like a very good opportunity, since we’ll all be in the same place, to have a kind of informal opportunity to talk about what’s going on. There is progress being made, but there are more steps to take,” she said.

North Korea submitted a nuclear list in June in a breakthrough to the stalled six-party nuclear talks, and the US removed some sanctions and began the process to lift the North from its terrorism blacklist.

The deal, however, faced criticism that the list did not include North Korea’s alleged uranium-based nuclear programme, alleged nuclear proliferation to Syria and nuclear warheads made so far.

During the six-party talks in June, envoys agreed to arrange for a meeting of foreign ministers involved at an opportune time to lend momentum to the on-and-off talks.

US officials have described the proposed Singapore talks as informal and not expected to produce a declaration or agreement due to a lack of preparations.

“You might remember that two years ago we had a meeting of the five because things were not going very well at that particular point in time,” Rice said. “So it’s just an opportunity for us to talk. I wouldn’t call it either historic or monumental or even consequential. I think it’s just really in the consultation category.”

Rice, however, expressed hope that the ministerial meeting will pave the way for advancement to a third phase, the dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear facilities and programmes.

“On the other hand, you know, we want to look forward,” she said. “And so, beginning to talk about the third phase is – it’s a useful opportunity to do that.”

Originally published by Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 1957 21 Jul 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.