Beijing, July 24 (RIA Novosti) - South and North Korean delegations met for bilateral talks here Sunday, ahead of the next round of six-party negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program.
South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said the sides had been able to reach consensus on mechanisms for making the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free. He said they had "reached agreement on many of the issues on the agenda of the 4th round of six-party talks," due on July 26. On July 25, the South Korean delegation is to hold bilateral meetings with the delegations of the U.S. and, probably, Japan; talks with the Russians and the Chinese are set for the following day, the minister announced.
The official spokesman for the South Korean Embassy to China said today's intra-Korean meeting had lasted for more than an hour, but stopped short of revealing its content.
The six-party negotiations, involving diplomats from the two Koreas, China, Japan, the United States, and Russia, were launched in August 2003 to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.
The fourth round, initially scheduled for September 2004, had to be postponed as North Korean negotiators refused to take part, citing what they described as a hostile climate created by the US. Pyongyang also demanded that an inquiry be launched into the circumstances of South Korea's own secret experiments with uranium and plutonium since 1982. It yet again blamed the suspension of the talks on the U.S. Administration and threatened to use its war-deterrence capability, should the White House decide to refer the nuclear program issue to the United Nations Security Council.
Officials in Pyongyang are pushing for the U.S. signing a non-aggression pact and establishing diplomatic relations with North Korea. The country declared itself a nuclear power on February 12, 2005.
