Talks continue on DPRK disablement

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-03-18 14:40


U.S. Treasury Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Daniel Glaser leaves the office of Monetary Authority of Macau March 17, 2007.[Reuters]
The working group on the denuclearization of Korean Peninsula will continue its meeting in Beijing on Sunday, focusing on the disablement and declaration of nuclear facilities in Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"The real issue ... is to get to the next stage of disablement and declaration. I think both would be the real focus of what we're doing today," U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill said before leaving his hotel on Sunday morning.

The DPRK agreed to give full declaration of its nuclear programs and disable all its nuclear facilities within the initial 60-day phase,according to the joint statement reached at the end of last round of six-party talks.

Hill revealed that there will be a trilateral meeting and some additional bilateral meetings may also probably be held during the plenary session of Sunday's denuclearization working group talks.

Hill confirmed that he will meet with Chinese and Russian delegation, and "have another meeting plan" with chief DPRK delegate Kim Kye-Gwan.

"We may just review the first day of denuclearization working group meeting," he said.

"I emphasize we were not just interested in stopping in the 60 days or stopping in disablement. We want to continue to implement the September agreement," Hill added.

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The six-party talks working group on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula began its first meeting Saturday morning, with Wu Dawei, chief negotiator of the Chinese delegation as well as the head of the working group, presiding over the meeting.

The U.S. and the DPRK are still divided on the issue of BDA (Banco Delta Asia), a Macao-based bank the U.S. suspected of helping the DPRK launder money from illicit activities.

Kim said upon his arrival that the DPRK would not shut down the Yongbyon nuclear reactor if the United States did not first lift financial bans on DPRK accounts in the BDA.

"We've resolved it from our point of view and now we have to explain it to everyone's satisfaction," said Hill, stressing that the BDA issue would not be a problem in six-party talks process.




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