Six-way talks on North Korea to begin late August
Six-country talks aimed at resolving the current impasse over North Korea’s willingness to acquire nuclear weapons are likely to begin later this month, according to China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.
Meeting his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo yesterday, he called upon Japan to play an active role in the three-day discussions between herself, the two Koreas, Russia, the US, and China.
“China, like the other countries in the region, wants peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. We also want to maintain a nuclear-free Korean peninsula,” Mr Li said.
Pyongyang appears to have backed down from an earlier stance that it would only talk shop with the US and only in exchange for energy and food assistance.
Multilateral talks hope to bring closure to the regime of Kim Jong Il’s suspected development of nuclear weapons, which if intelligence reports prove true, poses a major threat to security on the peninsula.
North Korea was criticised last October after the US said the reclusive communist state acknowledged it had begun a secret nuclear arms programme, breaching the 1994 non-proliferation treaty.
North Korea sits uncomfortably on US President George W Bush’s “axis of evil,” alongside Iran and Iraq.
Separately, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Losyukov confirmed his country would host preparatory talks, ahead of the six-way discussions, between the two Koreas this week.
