BEIJING, Sept 29: Six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme entered a third day on Saturday as a pro-Pyongyang paper said success in the negotiations depended on US willingness to abandon its ‘hostile policy’. Discussions in Beijing were expected to focus on fuel aid to North Korea and on what the reclusive regime had to do to disable its nuclear facilities, according to participants.
“What you’re looking at are specific actions, in terms of taking things apart and trying to measure the effect of that action by the number of months it would take to (put) it back together,” US chief envoy Christopher Hill said.
“If that sounds like a lot of nuts and bolts, it is,” he told reporters prior to the start of the day’s talks.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said on Friday Bush had given the go-ahead for $25 million worth of fuel aid for 50,000 metric tonnes of heavy fuel oil.
The aid was in response to North Korea’s progress on reporting and disabling its nuclear facilities as required in a February agreement aimed at halting Pyongyang’s drive for nuclear weapons.
The move came after Hill said Friday that North Korea had agreed to take further steps towards ending its nuclear weapons programmes.
But even as the energy shipment was being announced the pro-North Korean Chosun Sinbo, published in Tokyo, suggested another bone of contention in its Internet edition on Saturday.
It said Washington must stick to its side of the February deal by removing the designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism and cancelling sanctions.—AFP
