ID :
13599
Wed, 07/23/2008 - 22:16
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https://oananews.org//node/13599
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Ministers agree on need to begin verifying N. Korea nuke account
SINGAPORE, July 23 Kyodo - Foreign ministers of the six countries involved in talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea agreed Wednesday on the need to begin verifying the list of North Korea's nuclear programs at an early date, Japanese ForeignMinister Masahiko Komura said.
The ministers from North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia confirmed their will to move ahead with the six-party denuclearization process in the first meeting of its kind since the framework was launched five years ago, he said.
''The result, in a nutshell, was that we should set up a specific regime for verification at an early date and get on with carrying it out,'' Komura told reporters after the meeting in Singapore.
''We also said that we should implement all our promises in a balanced manner,'' he said.
The meeting came after North Korea submitted a long-delayed list of its nuclear programs last month, ending a six-month stalemate in the denuclearization negotiations stemming from a row over what should be included in the report.
Negotiators from six countries have since agreed to set up a regime for checking information on the list, but have yet to agree on specifics such as who will visit which nuclear sites carrying what kind of equipment.
Komura said that while North Korea said in the meeting that all parties should be subject to verification of their obligations under the agreement, they did not object to the checking of their nuclear programs.
''The relevant countries should implement the agreement for completing the second stage, reached at the heads-of-delegations meeting in Beijing,'' a spokesman for the North Korean delegation told reporters ahead of the talks.
The spokesman was referring to a deal reached at a meeting in Beijing earlier this month, in which North Korea promised to work to disable its key nuclear facility by October while the other parties complete the delivery of promised energy aid.
Diplomats involved in the framework have suggested that Wednesday's ministerial meeting will be more about boosting political momentum for the denuclearization-for-benefits process, rather than negotiating specific problems.
They say the absence from Singapore of nuclear negotiators from China, which chairs the six-party process, and North Korea, a key member in it, makes it unlikely that the countries involved will make progress on specific issues.
''This informal gathering of the six-party foreign ministers is very meaningful,'' Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, the host of Wednesday's meeting, told reporters after the talks. ''It has testified to the will of the six parties to continue to push forward the six-party process.'' Yang said the meeting was held in ''frank and positive spirit'' and that participants were able to make ''useful preparations'' toward holding a formal meeting of the six countries' foreign ministers ''at an early date.'' The six countries -- which have held talks at the working level since the negotiations were launched in August 2003 -- agreed last year to hold a ministerial-level meeting in Beijing ''at an appropriate time.''Diplomats have said the Singapore meeting will be different from that meeting, which will be held in the Chinese capital at some point in the future.
The six countries also met at the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting in Manila last year, when they paid a courtesy call on Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
While most of the countries were represented by their foreign ministers in that meeting, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte participated from the United States in the absence of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The ministers from North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia confirmed their will to move ahead with the six-party denuclearization process in the first meeting of its kind since the framework was launched five years ago, he said.
''The result, in a nutshell, was that we should set up a specific regime for verification at an early date and get on with carrying it out,'' Komura told reporters after the meeting in Singapore.
''We also said that we should implement all our promises in a balanced manner,'' he said.
The meeting came after North Korea submitted a long-delayed list of its nuclear programs last month, ending a six-month stalemate in the denuclearization negotiations stemming from a row over what should be included in the report.
Negotiators from six countries have since agreed to set up a regime for checking information on the list, but have yet to agree on specifics such as who will visit which nuclear sites carrying what kind of equipment.
Komura said that while North Korea said in the meeting that all parties should be subject to verification of their obligations under the agreement, they did not object to the checking of their nuclear programs.
''The relevant countries should implement the agreement for completing the second stage, reached at the heads-of-delegations meeting in Beijing,'' a spokesman for the North Korean delegation told reporters ahead of the talks.
The spokesman was referring to a deal reached at a meeting in Beijing earlier this month, in which North Korea promised to work to disable its key nuclear facility by October while the other parties complete the delivery of promised energy aid.
Diplomats involved in the framework have suggested that Wednesday's ministerial meeting will be more about boosting political momentum for the denuclearization-for-benefits process, rather than negotiating specific problems.
They say the absence from Singapore of nuclear negotiators from China, which chairs the six-party process, and North Korea, a key member in it, makes it unlikely that the countries involved will make progress on specific issues.
''This informal gathering of the six-party foreign ministers is very meaningful,'' Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, the host of Wednesday's meeting, told reporters after the talks. ''It has testified to the will of the six parties to continue to push forward the six-party process.'' Yang said the meeting was held in ''frank and positive spirit'' and that participants were able to make ''useful preparations'' toward holding a formal meeting of the six countries' foreign ministers ''at an early date.'' The six countries -- which have held talks at the working level since the negotiations were launched in August 2003 -- agreed last year to hold a ministerial-level meeting in Beijing ''at an appropriate time.''Diplomats have said the Singapore meeting will be different from that meeting, which will be held in the Chinese capital at some point in the future.
The six countries also met at the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting in Manila last year, when they paid a courtesy call on Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
While most of the countries were represented by their foreign ministers in that meeting, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte participated from the United States in the absence of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
