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Six-Party Talks "Failed to Narrow Differences" - South Korean Negotiator

Posted on: Sunday, 7 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

Beijing, 7 August: North Korea's insistence on retaining the right to utilize nuclear technology for peaceful purposes was a key reason for the stalling of international talks on the North's nuclear weapons programme, the top South Korean negotiator said Sunday.

After 13 days of inconclusive negotiations in Beijing, envoys to the six-nation disarmament talks agreed to take a three-week recess and reopen the forum in the week of 29 August.

"We failed to narrow differences over the scope of the dismantling of the North's nuclear programmes and its corresponding measures, particularly the issue of the peaceful use of nuclear energy," Song Min-soon told reporters. "We will focus on discussing the matter at the next talks."

Song, however, said the six-party talks served as a platform to confirm all participants in the forum shared the desire to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The sides "came close to the principle and objective of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, though those were not agreed upon on the whole," he said.

During the recess period, Song said delegates to the talks plan to discuss with respective governments and hold bilateral meetings with one another to prepare for the resumption of the main session.

The next six-party meeting is "the resumption of the fourth round of the six-party talks", Song said.

Asked whether the next talks can produce any tangible results, Song said, "Simply speaking, North Korea made clear it will give up nuclear weapons programme and the other nations made clear they would present corresponding measures."

Song's negotiation team is scheduled to return home later on Sunday.

At the Beijing talks, the North agreed to trade off its weapons- related nuclear programme for political and economic rewards, but insisted on retaining the right for peaceful nuclear programmes.

The North's retention of its nuclear programme for peaceful purposes is something the US is refusing to accept out of proliferation concerns. It cites the communist country's record of converting its nuclear research facilities for weapons development.

North Korea only has one operational nuclear reactor, a 5 MW experimental reactor at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon. The country has used the Soviet-built, graphite-moderated facility to produce plutonium, a key fissile material used in nuclear weapons.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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