Rice happy with talks, meets DPRK counterpart

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-24 07:31

SINGAPORE: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) counterpart for the first time Wednesday and said the six countries involved in talks over the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue had a good meeting.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right, and North Korea's Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun, back left, walk to their seats before a meeting between foreign ministers of the six party nations on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in Singapore, Wednesday, July 23, 2008. [Agencies]

"It was a good meeting. There were no surprises," she said.

"Everyone essentially confirmed (previous agreements) and (agreed) to move rapidly to finish phase two obligations," she said after meeting her counterparts from China, Japan, Russia, the DPRK and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Rice's meeting with DPRK Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun ended a four-year hiatus in cabinet-level contacts between the two countries over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

They smiled while posing for photographs as they greeted each other and their counterparts from the four other countries. The diplomats were accompanied by dozens of aides.

"I think this is quite significant," said Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. "It shows the six countries have the political will to move forward with the Six-Party Talks process."

"All of us have to keep contributing to the progress of this process," Yang said. "When we look back we find that because of the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win progress we have been able to overcome quite a few difficulties and we have completed the implementation of the initial phase."

Yang said the six parties had made "major headway" in obtaining verifiable accounting of the DPRK's nuclear plan.

Rice said there was a lot of discussion on the mechanism to verify the DPRK's nuclear program and a general call for better relations among all the parties.

"I thought the atmosphere was really good," she said. "The spirit was good because people believed we have made progress. There is also a sense of urgency about moving on and a sense that we can't afford to have another hiatus of several months."

The talks were held on the sidelines of an Asian security conference in Singapore.

DPRK spokesman Ri Tong-il told reporters that Pyongyang hoped the meeting would build up the momentum toward completing the declaration and verification stage and move toward a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which closed with an armistice and not a peace treaty.

"What is important in the next stage is that these measures should lead to a complete abandonment of hostile (US) policies toward our republic," he said.

US chief negotiator Christopher Hill said the verification protocol would be a key issue in the coming weeks and a four-page draft of the document had been circulated. An agreement on the issue should be reached by mid-August at the latest, he told reporters.

Agencies