Envoys to the working group meeting on denuclearization of
Korean Peninsula continued discussions Friday on details of
disablement.
"The value of today's meeting is full exchange of information,
and various parties, especially the DPRK, can study the information
and take it back to the capitals," US chief envoy Christopher Hill
told reporters when leaving the hotel.
Hill said he will exchange ideas with the US experts and then
have bilateral consultations with China and the Republic of Korea
(ROK), but no plan with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) yet.
"There was some common understanding that we can further
develop," he said.
"It's moving along. The issue comes down to coming up with the
precise means to disable the facility, and a precise understanding
what the declaration looks like," Hill said.
The two-day meeting held in Shenyang, capital of northeast
China's Liaoning Province, is the second meeting of
denuclearization working group aimed at declaring and disabling
nuclear facilities of the DPRK.
The six parties held their first plenary session on Thursday
afternoon, and the focus remains on details of the disablement and
declaration. Experts from six sides continued consultations at
Thursday night discussing technical issues.
Japanese chief delegate to the meeting Akio Suda said there's
still something unclear in DPRK's statement, and they need further
discussion.
ROK chief delegate Chun Yung-woo said the DPRK have expressed
their willingness to declaration and disablement, but uncertainties
remain. Chun is scheduled to have a bilateral consultation with the
Russian side.
Hill said the DPRK should declare not only the Yongbyon nuclear
facility, and the declaration should include nuclear programs,
facilities and materials.
"There need to be a declaration, so we know what to disable," he
said.
The chief delegates to the six-party talks, involving China,
DPRK, the US, ROK, Russia and Japan, agreed in their last meeting
in July to hold the meetings of the five working groups in
August.
The first meeting of the denuclearization working group was held
in Beijing on March 17 and 18 ahead of the sixth round of
talks.
The US and the DPRK are expected to meet at the end of August on
normalization of bilateral relations, but time and venue are not
set yet.
(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2007)
