South Korean Official Says North Nuclear Talks "Moving Forward" - Yonhap
Posted on: Friday, 29 July 2005, 09:00 CDT
Excerpt from report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap
Beijing, 29 July: Six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions were making meaningful progress but there still remain significant disagreements, South Korean officials said Friday [29 July].
"Overall, the talks are moving forward," a South Korean official said at a briefing for reporters. "Through numerous bilateral contacts, the participants have come to know that they have many things in common but still have some disagreements."
The official, requesting anonymity, said there were hopeful signs that this round of six-nation talks, the fourth in their series, might produce some useful results.
Speaking on the record at the same news briefing, South Korea's No 2 delegation chief, Cho Tae-yong, said this week's talks will stretch into the weekend as North Korea, the US and other key players were eager to make headway.
Unlike three previous rounds of talks which lasted several days, no end date has been set for this round.
The focus of the negotiations was on one-on-one meetings between North Korea and the United States. They met again on Friday, their fourth [meeting] this week.
Another South Korean official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said this week's talks, which began on Tuesday, have progressed enough to convince the parties to consider issuing a joint statement. Past talks ended after issuing a less forceful chairman's statement.
US officials sounded upbeat but acknowledged that they still have wide differences with North Korea.
This week's talks have been characterized by informal, bilateral contacts between the participating countries. On Friday alone, the two Koreas and the United States met separately with each other in an unusual sequence.
Details of the discussions were not made public but South Korean and US officials indicated that this week's talks are not the last and that the negotiations would be a long process. [passage omitted]
Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
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