Last ditch attempt for agreement at nuke talks (Reuters) Updated: 2005-09-18 11:53
U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill said on Saturday that recess was a
possibility. But on Sunday he said his delegation was still poring over the
draft statement.
Kenichiro Sasae,
director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian
Affairs Bureau and Japan's top negotiator for the six-party talks, speaks
to the media before continuation of talks in Beijing September 18, 2005.
[Reuters]
| "The issue is the tactics of how
we express the elements of the document," Hill told reporters.
"Some delegations prefer to leave some things more ambiguous. My delegation
would like to see things less ambiguous so we have to resolve some of the
tactics of it," he said.
Three previous rounds and a marathon 13-day, fourth-round session failed to
breach an impasse in the crisis that erupted in October 2002 when the United
States confronted North Korea and accused Pyongyang of possessing a clandestine
nuclear program in violation of international agreements.
North Korea denied the charge, threw out weapons inspectors and withdrew from
the Non-Proliferation Treaty. This February it raised the stakes by saying it
had nuclear weapons.
ELUSIVE JOINT STATEMENT
China pressed for all sides to agree to the joint document, which proved
elusive in previous rounds, calling it balanced.
Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted a source in the Japanese delegation as
saying it was becoming more likely that the multilateral talks would break for a
second recess. A decision would be made on Sunday, it said.
|
| | Hu concludes North American trip | | | | | Sculpture exhibition to mark the war victory | | | | | Children of migrant workers receive education in Guiyang | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|