INTERNATIONAL WORKING GROUP ON NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR PROBLEM GATHERS AT THE SESSION

MOSCOW, April 30 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian part of the working group within the framework of the six-party talks on the settlement of the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula will be headed by deputy director of the First Asian Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, expert in Korean problems Valery Sukhinin. RIA Novosti was told about this in the Russian foreign policy department on Friday.

Taking part in the six-party talks, whose aim is to find conditions of terminating the North Korean nuclear program which will satisfy all, are high-ranking diplomats of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the USA, as well as of the other interested states - Russia, China, South Korea and Japan.

The first two rounds of these talks were held in August 2003 and in February of this year in Beijing, with no progress achieved, however. The parties to the talks decided to form a working group comprising 7-10 experts from each side to smooth over the sharp angles in the positions, primarily of Washington and Pyongyang, and engage in preparations for a third round of the talks.

The first session of the working group has been scheduled for May 12 in Beijing, and the third round - for June.

The North Korean part of the working group will be led by Li Kung, head of the PRC foreign ministry's American department.

Josef Ditrani, special envoy for the North Korean affairs, will represent the USA on this group.

The Chinese part will be headed ambassador at large for the North Korean problems from the Chinese Foreign Ministry Ning Fukui.

South Korea appointed Choh Tae Ion, expert in nuclear problems of North Korea from the foreign affairs and foreign trade ministry.

The Japanese foreign ministry will be represented by councellor of the main political directorate of this department Kodzi Tsuruoka.

The current nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula flared up in the autumn of 2002 when the DPRK resumed the nuclear program after the timeframe of the construction of a nuclear power plant under the US aegis in the city of Kumho was thwarted.

The war in Iraq aroused apprehensions in North Korea which was listed by the USA among the "axis of evil" states on a par with the Saddam Hussein regime in Baghdad.

Now the USA is demanding from North Korea to fully give up all nuclear programs, including the peaceful ones, meanwhile Pyongyang is ready to freeze only nuclear research in the military sphere in exchange for security guarantees.