Japan ready to drop some demands for 6-party document

TOKYO, Nov. 4 Kyodo - Japan is ready to drop some of its demands regarding a document to be compiled at the next six-party nuclear talks as long as it leads to proper verification of North Korea's nuclear programs, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official
said Tuesday.

The Japanese government will not dwell on its demands that the document, which
will spell out verification measures, include references to checking North
Korea for uranium enrichment and nuclear proliferation activities, the official
said.
Tokyo will also agree not to make the document public if it can confirm with
the other parties in the talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea that uranium
enrichment and nuclear proliferation activities are also subject to
verification, the official said.
Japan plans to dispatch its top nuclear negotiator Akitaka Saiki, director
general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, to Beijing
shortly to discuss the matter with officials of the Chinese government, which
hosts the multilateral talks.
The six countries -- North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United
States -- are expected to hold a heads of delegation meeting in Beijing this
month to put in writing a recent agreement between Washington and Pyongyang on
a mechanism to verify information provided by the North in June on its nuclear
programs.
North Korea, which has denied involvement in uranium enrichment and nuclear
proliferation activities, is said to be reluctant to agree on specifying that
such programs be included in the document, according to sources close to the
negotiations.
When it put together its declaration of nuclear programs in June, North Korea
also presented to the United States a secret memorandum, separate from the
document, covering its plutonium-based nuclear programs, which acknowledged
U.S. concerns about Pyongyang's alleged uranium enrichment program and the
suspected transfer of nuclear technology to other countries such as Syria.
Japan feels it is ''inevitable to take a flexible approach'' in order to
expedite holding the six-party talks, the ministry official said, adding that
Tokyo will accept a document ''of any form if it will lead to verification'' of
North Korea's nuclear activities.
The official said, however, that Japan will stick to its demand that the
North's plutonium-based nuclear programs be mentioned in the document as
subject to verification.
The government also plans to demand that a recent U.S.-North Korea accord on
taking samples from the North's nuclear facilities to calculate the amount of
plutonium extracted be put clearly in writing, according to the official.
The United States and North Korea have agreed not to state the matter clearly
in writing but rather to refer to the sampling process as ''scientific
procedures.''
==Kyodo