Condoleezza Rice meets top North Korean diplomat

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
met North Korea's top diplomat here Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
Rice and North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun smiled
for photos as they greeted each other and their
counterparts from the four other nations _ China, Japan,
Russia and South Korea. The diplomats were
accompanied by dozens of aides.
«I think this is quite significant, » said Chinese
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. «It shows the six parties
have the political will to move forward with the six-party
talks process. »
«We should all continuously contribute to the progress of
this process, » Yang added. «When we look back we find
that because of this spirit of mutual benefit and win-win
progress we have been able to overcome quite a few
difficulties and we have completed the implementation of
the initial phase. »
Yang said the parties had made «major headway» in
obtaining verifiable accounting of North Korea's nuclear
program.