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China Offers Fourth Draft of Proposed Joint Statement at North Korea Nuclear Talks
China today offered a fourth draft of a proposed joint statement on North Korea’s nuclear program in an effort to conclude more than a week of thus-far fruitless six-nation negotiations, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug. 2). Delegates in Beijing held bilateral meetings on the text this morning, but an expected afternoon plenary session failed to materialize. “At the moment there are no prospects of a plenary session to be held today,” said top Japanese envoy Kenichiro Sasae. “Efforts are still being made to reach a final agreement.” The newest version of the statement contains references to eliminating Pyongyang’s nuclear programs and corresponding measures such as energy aid to North Korea by the other parties, top South Korean envoy Song Min-soon said earlier today. Security guarantees to North Korea, international nuclear inspections, civilian nuclear development by Pyongyang and normalization of relations with Tokyo and Washington are also mentioned, the Yonhap news agency reported. The U.S. delegation said the talks could end without an agreement, giving representatives time to return to their respective countries for consultations before reconvening. “I don’t know at this point whether we will get it to an agreed text, but I think it’s getting to an end-game text,” U.S. Assistance Secretary of State Christopher Hill said today (Kim/Ueno, Reuters, Aug. 3). Contested issues centered on what level of dismantlement the North must agree to and whether peaceful nuclear technology could be allowed, said Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura (Audra Ang, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Aug. 3). Today’s plenary meeting did not take place because the North Korean delegation failed to show up, a source told Agence-France-Presse. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., but top North Korean envoy Kim Kye Gwan and his negotiators left the meeting venue this morning for their embassy and never returned. “The North Korea delegation has not come out of its embassy compound since midday today,” the source told AFP. “They did not show up at the plenary session scheduled to open in the afternoon,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 3).
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