Negotiators from the six parties attending the fourth-round
Korean Peninsula nuclear talks strived for the drafting of an
all-acceptable joint document yesterday, as the talks entered the
sixth day.??
Deputy heads of delegation from the six parties discussed for
five hours on the draft document, which was proposed by the Chinese
delegation on Saturday based on an integration of stances of all
parties.
"The Chinese text represents a good basis for future
negotiations and future discussions," said US chief delegate
Christopher Hill, acknowledging that it is also "a good basis for
final document and final agreement."
V. Yermolov, deputy head of the Russian delegation, was quoted
as saying that all the delegations had made revisions to the draft
document according to their own stances, and had returned the
revised copies to the Chinese delegation on Sunday.
Negotiators will work on a final revision of the draft joint
document, he said.
As differences still remain between North Korea and the US on
the definition of denuclearization and conditions of nuclear
dismantlement, it is largely unforeseeable what might be written
into the draft document.
"The draft joint document the deputy heads of delegation
discussed today was not long. However, the six sides wanted it to
include all core contents of the talks that have been so far
consulted," South Korea's chief negotiator Song Min-soon said
yesterday.
South Korea had proposed earlier that if the North agreed to
give up its nuclear program, it would be ready to provide 2 million
kilowatt of electricity to North Korea by building a cross
inter-Korean border power line.
"This proposal could become the key to resolving the nuclear
issue," said Song at the opening ceremony of the talks on Tuesday.
The proposal was later described by Song as one important "pillar"
in solving the nuclear issue.
South Korea hoped the North would give up its nuclear program,
and the other countries concerned would make definite promise to
realize the normalization of bilateral relations with North Korea
and provide security guarantee to it, Song said.
Song added that as the best frame of reference, the
denuclearization declaration of the Korean Peninsula that came into
being in 1992 would be used in a flexible manner for the settlement
of the nuclear issue.
Under the 1992 Korean Peninsula denuclearization declaration,
South and North Korea pledged not to test, produce, store, deploy
or use nuclear weapons.
According to some media speculation here, the joint document
will also cover topics like the North's security concern, the
normalization of diplomatic relations between the US, Japan and
North Korea, and economic cooperation between the parties
concerned.
While the current round of talks seems to be approaching its
end, no one can predict the exact date of its conclusion.
Following the Sunday meeting of the deputy delegation heads,
another session of the chief negotiators or their deputies will
beheld if necessary, according to South Korea's Song.
Although it was hard to say when the current round of six-party
talks would come to an end, all sides had agreed to reach an
agreement that would embody the core contents of the talks through
cooperation, Song said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2005)