ID :
94436
Fri, 12/11/2009 - 21:13
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/94436
The shortlink copeid
N.K., U.S. find common ground, agree to cooperate to narrow difference: KCNA
(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES with quotes from KCNA's English report,
details, background throughout)
By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Friday it reached common ground with
the U.S. on the need to resume stalled six-party nuclear talks and agreed to
cooperate to narrow differences during a high-level meeting with Washington's
special envoy.
Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, finished a
three-day trip to Pyongyang on Thursday without obtaining the North's commitment
to return to the multilateral talks on its denuclearization.
An unidentified spokesman with North Korea's foreign ministry said in an
interview with the North's Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) that both sides held
practical and "frank discussions," and took the opportunity to establish a
"mutual understanding," the KCNA reported.
The spokesman said that Bosworth had talks with the foreign ministry's vice
minister for U.S. affairs and its first vice minister.
The meeting produced a "a series of common understanding on the need to resume
the six-party talks," the report said. The multilateral forum, involving the
United States, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas, has been deadlocked over
international sanctions imposed on North Korea after its nuclear and missile
tests.
"Both sides had a long, exhaustive and candid discussion on wide-ranging issues,
including the conclusion of a peace agreement, the normalization of the bilateral
relations, economic and energy assistance, and the denuclearization of the Korean
peninsula," the spokesman said.
The KCNA also quoted the spokesman as saying that both sides agreed on the
importance of implementing the 2005 joint statement, which calls for the North's
nuclear dismantlement in return for the provision of massive economic aid,
normalization of ties between the North and the U.S. and Japan, and the
establishment of a peace regime to replace the armistice signed at the end of
Korean War in 1953.
North Korea and the U.S. agreed to "continue to cooperate with each other in the
future to narrow down the remaining differences," the spokesman said.
Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang had raised hopes for a breakthrough in the stalemate
in the international process to denuclearize North Korea, but the envoy stressed
to reporters in Seoul on Thursday that he held "exploratory talks, not
negotiations," in Pyongyang.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
details, background throughout)
By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Friday it reached common ground with
the U.S. on the need to resume stalled six-party nuclear talks and agreed to
cooperate to narrow differences during a high-level meeting with Washington's
special envoy.
Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, finished a
three-day trip to Pyongyang on Thursday without obtaining the North's commitment
to return to the multilateral talks on its denuclearization.
An unidentified spokesman with North Korea's foreign ministry said in an
interview with the North's Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) that both sides held
practical and "frank discussions," and took the opportunity to establish a
"mutual understanding," the KCNA reported.
The spokesman said that Bosworth had talks with the foreign ministry's vice
minister for U.S. affairs and its first vice minister.
The meeting produced a "a series of common understanding on the need to resume
the six-party talks," the report said. The multilateral forum, involving the
United States, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas, has been deadlocked over
international sanctions imposed on North Korea after its nuclear and missile
tests.
"Both sides had a long, exhaustive and candid discussion on wide-ranging issues,
including the conclusion of a peace agreement, the normalization of the bilateral
relations, economic and energy assistance, and the denuclearization of the Korean
peninsula," the spokesman said.
The KCNA also quoted the spokesman as saying that both sides agreed on the
importance of implementing the 2005 joint statement, which calls for the North's
nuclear dismantlement in return for the provision of massive economic aid,
normalization of ties between the North and the U.S. and Japan, and the
establishment of a peace regime to replace the armistice signed at the end of
Korean War in 1953.
North Korea and the U.S. agreed to "continue to cooperate with each other in the
future to narrow down the remaining differences," the spokesman said.
Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang had raised hopes for a breakthrough in the stalemate
in the international process to denuclearize North Korea, but the envoy stressed
to reporters in Seoul on Thursday that he held "exploratory talks, not
negotiations," in Pyongyang.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
