...

Six-party talks resume discussing prospects of nuclear-free Koreas

Iran Materials 18 December 2006 13:00 (UTC +04:00)

(Itar-Tass) -- After more than a year long break the fifth round of talks on settlement of the situation on the Korean peninsula resumed at the Beijing state residence on Monday. Delegations from China, North Korea, the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan are taking part in the talks, reports Trend.

The major task of the current meeting in the Chinese capital is the search for ways for ways of fulfilling the provisions of the joint document, which all parties to the negotiations adopted in September 2005. In particular, the document stipulates that North Korea assumes commitments to abandon nuclear weapons and all current nuclear programmes and return in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty regime and the International Atomic Energy Agency for a short time.

The heads of the delegations, which participate in the talks, began arriving in the Chinese capital on Saturday. North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan and South Korean Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Chun Young-woo arrived in Beijing on Saturday. US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill and Director General of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Kenichiro Sasae arrived on the next day. Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to China Sergei Razov heads the Russian delegation at the talks.

The six-party talks have been suspended since November 2005 at the North Korean initiative in response to financial sanctions imposed by the US against several North Korean companies.

Latest

Latest