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Six-nation talks on North Korean nuclear program reach tentative plan, envoys say
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 30 - 09 - 2007

Negotiators at North Korea's disarmament
talks tentatively agreed to a draft plan on disabling the
North's nuclear facilities by year's end, though they said
the detailed blueprint required further consideration by
their governments, according to AP.
The four days of talks, which began on an optimistic note
after North Korea earlier agreed to a Dec. 31 deadline,
were supposed to set specifics for the disabling, among
other issues. Envoys described the talks as being in
recess, with host China saying that they may reconvene in
48 hours depending on what the six governments _ China, the
United States, Japan, Russia and North and South Koreas _
decide about the draft.
The draft «lays out an entire roadmap until the end of
the year» for the North's nuclear disarmament, U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told
reporters before boarding a plane for New York.
«We're into the nuts and bolts now of implementing
de-nuclearization,» Hill said. The level of detail, he
said, made it necessary for him to return to Washington for
consultations.
Though Hill declined to disclose details and the draft was
not released, South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo said the
proposed blueprint set some deadlines for North Korea and
for the other parties to meet.
The recess is the latest glitch for the six as they try to
push forward a February agreement under which communist,
impoverished North Korea agreed to declare and dismantle
all its nuclear programs in return for 1 million tons of
heavy fuel oil or other assistance. The latest talks aimed
to set terms for the North's declaration and the
dismantling that under the February deal should have been
agreed to five months ago.
Talks have dragged on for four years but if ultimately
successful would roll back a nuclear program that a year
ago allowed North Korea to detonate a nuclear device and
that experts say may have produced more than a dozen
nuclear bombs.
Agreement on the blueprint would be a boost for South
Korean President Roh Moo-hyun ahead of a rare summit this
week with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. In his efforts
to promote rapprochement with the North, Roh has sometimes
appeared to be out of step with South Korean ally, the
United States.
While some negotiators may remain in Beijing to resume the
talks, no members of the U.S. delegation were staying
behind to take part in further negotiations, the U.S.
Embassy said.
Envoys characterized the meeting as a step forward. South
Korea's Chun said the draft represented «a tentative
agreement among the chief envoys.» He praised North Korea
_ an often stubborn negotiator _ for showing flexibility.
«Many countries exerted the spirit of compromise. In
particular, North Korea made many concessions,» Chun told
reporters. «The North showed its resolve to bring an
agreement home. They expressed enthusiasm and made many
concessions.»
Under terms in the draft, North Korea reiterated its Dec.
31 deadline for declaring and disabling its nuclear
programs and accepted that other parties would not be able
to deliver all aid within that time, Chun said. He said
that South Korea by year's end would only have delivered
about a third of the economic and energy assistance it
promised to.
While the U.S. also restated its intention eventually to
remove North Korea from a list of countries that sponsor
terrorism, the draft did not set a deadline, Chun said.
Envoys, however, did not comment on whether the draft
addressed earlier sticking points. During the recent talks,
disagreement arose over the definition of disabling. Hill,
the U.S. envoy, said earlier that the U.S. wants a
dismantling process that means a nuclear facility could not
be made operational for at least 12 months.
Washington also wants North Korea to declare a suspected
uranium enrichment program along with the plutonium program
that has produced nuclear bomb material.


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