6-party talks: US, DPRK, China hold meeting

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Source: CCTV.com | 11-30-2006 08:30

In Beijing, representatives from the United States, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and China have met to discuss resuming the six-party Korean Peninsula nuclear talks.

US chief negotiator Christopher Hill, his DPRK counterpart Kim Kye-gwan and their Chinese host, Wu Dawei, held a trilateral meeting at the Diaoyutai Guest House on Wednesday morning following on from their first meeting on Tuesday.

No details have been released so far. But analysts say the signals are negative and this has clouded prospects for the resumption of the six-party talks. The key point of argument is which should come first; the US lifting of financial sanctions or Pyongyang's declaration of its full nuclear capabilities.

Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated China's stance on Tuesday that the Korean Peninsular should be de-nuclearized and the issue can only be resolved through dialogue and negotiation. It also called upon all sides to seize this opportunity and take a pragmatic and constructive approach to re-starting the six-party talks.

It was hoped that this series of negotiations would determine the exact date of the next round of the six-party talks. But now it seems more a case of whether the US and the DPRK can reach a compromise on the pre-conditions for the resumption of talks in the first place.

Editor:Du Xiaodan