North Korea

North Korea set to resume nuclear talks

Article published on the 2008-07-08 Latest update 2008-07-08 10:22 TU

The Pyongyang nuclear facility's cooling tower was destroyed 27 June 2008
(Photo: Reuters)

Six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear programme will resume on Thursday after a nine-month break, South Korea's negotiator Kim Sook said. Last month North Korea delivered an overdue declaration of its nuclear activities, clearing the way for negotiations to restart. Kim told reporters that envoys from the US, China, Japan, both Koreas and Russia would meet in Beijing.

"I will be in consultation with each country to secure an important bridgehead for achieving the goal that North Korea should eventually give up its nuclear weapons programmes," Kim told reporters.

In a dramatic gesture intended to show its commitment to disarmament, North Korea last month blew up the cooling tower at the plutonium-producing Yongbyon complex, but the North's failure to hand over details of its nuclear ambitions has so far stalled the denuclearisation efforts.

Analysts believe the six-party talks will now focus on how to verify the claims made by the North in the documents it has handed over, as it is thought that the papers will not contain any details of a suspected uranium enrichment programme, nor will the regime have admitted stockpiling any weapons.

Seoul's envoy said working-level meetings would be held on denuclearisation and economic and energy aid in between the top-level talks. The negotiators would also prepare for a meeting of foreign ministers from the six parties - North and South Korea, China, the US, Russia and Japan.

Pyongyang agreed to scrap its nuclear ambitions early last year. In return, the other five nations involved with the negotiations agreed to provide fuel and diplomatic concessions.