Beijing, Dec 16: North Korea on Saturday ruled out
dismantling its nuclear weapons unilaterally in the face of
"hostile" policies against Pyongyang, signalling major
difficulties in the six-party talks scheduled to resume here
on Monday after a hiatus of over one year.
North Korea was not optimistic about the outlook of the
upcoming round of six party talks, and the US should change
its hostile policy towards Pyongyang to peaceful co-existence
policy, head of the North Korean delegation Kim Kye-Gwan said
on his arrival at Beijing International Airport.
The second phase of the fifth round of the six-party
talks, involving the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and
Russia, is due to resume in Beijing on December 18 after its
last session in November 2005.
Kim, also vice foreign minister of North Korea, said his
side was willing to discuss other contents of the September
joint statement, except the nuclear weapons, during the new
round of six-party talks, under the condition that the US
gives up its economic sanctions against his country.
He said democratic People's Republic of Korea will not
give up the nuclear weapons, which are against the US invasion
and threat.
"The United States should change its hostile policy
against the DPRK," he said. "The nuclear issues cannot be
resolved until the us take a co-existence policy," he
asserted.
The North Korean delegation is the first to arrive in
Beijing. The South Korean delegation is scheduled to arrive
this afternoon. The Russian, US and Japanese delegations are
scheduled to arrive tomorrow.
China, the host of the six-party talks, has appealed to
North Korea and the United States to build mutual trust and
display patience in order to realise the de-nuclearisation of
the Korean Peninsula through talks.
US Assistant Secretary for East Asia Christopher Hill
said on Wednesday that the disarmament negotiations scheduled
for next week will be "very tough."
Hill said there were no guarantees the process would
achieve its goal of dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons
programme.
Hill has held two rounds of preliminary talks with
officials of Pyongyang since the country agreed to return to
the negotiating table after carrying out their first test of
a nuclear bomb on October nine.
The six-party talks have remained stalled since North
Korea walked out of the negotiations with the US, South Korea,
China, Japan and Russia more than a year ago.
Pyongyang agreed in principle to dismantle its nuclear
weapons at the September 2005 round of talks but boycotted
the meeting following us financial sanctions imposed on the
reclusive Stalinist state.
Bureau Report
