Six parties stress action-to-action in resolving nuclear issue

Beijing(China)—The six parties to the Korean Peninsula nuclear talks held a plenary session Monday morning with the resumption of multilateral talks, stressing to resolve the nuclear standoff in line with the principle of “action-to-action.”
The chief negotiators of the six parties made key-note speeches at the plenary session, and elaborated their respective stance on implementing the joint statement adopted by all parties during the fourth round of talks in September 2005, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The six delegation heads also put forward relevant proposals and ideas in their speeches. Wu Dawei, Chinese chief negotiator and vice foreign minister, said the Sept. 19 statement gleaned the consensus of all parties, and was a “political declaration” for the goal of denuclearization as well as a “guiding document” that should be observed by all parties.
The topic for the second stage of the fifth round of six-party talks on Monday focused on how to concretely implement the joint statement in line with the “action-to-action” principle, he said. “The six-party talks have experienced trials and hardships. As long as parties concerned keep patience, make constant efforts, sincerely treat each other, and meet each other half way, we can certainly overcome various difficulties and achieve success,” he said.
The Chinese delegation are willing to work closely with other parties, and participate in negotiations with “positive, flexible and pragmatic” attitude, in a bid to score positive progress out of the talks, Wu said. The other five chief negotiators expressed appreciation for China’s efforts in resuming the talks.
They also reiterated their pledge to fulfill the commitments made in the Sept. 19 statement, realize denuclearization through dialogues and peaceful means, and achieve normalization of diplomatic ties between relevant countries as well as long-lasting peace in northeast Asia. The second phase of the fifth round of six-party talks, involving China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan and Russia, was launched on Monday morning after a stalemate of 13 months.
Chief negotiators of the six-party talks gathered at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in western Beijing, initiating a new round of negotiation on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. They agreed that the hard-won six-party talks should be cherished. The parties should seize opportunities with specific measures and steps to implement the Sept. 19 statement in line with the principle of “action-to-action” and the attitude of facing up to the future.
The six chief negotiators also vowed to strive for “positive progress” out of the fresh round of talks with “flexible” and “pragmatic” attitude. Chun Yung Woo, head of the ROK delegation and ROK Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told reporters there are “three common points” among parties concerned during this round of talks, namely to settle the nuclear issue through peaceful negotiation, to find out a scheme to implement the Sept. 19 statement, and to achieve “substantial” progress in the talks.
Chun told reporters he would have bilateral consultation with the U.S. delegation on Monday afternoon. Launched in 2003, the six-party talks have been held for five rounds. However, the talks had remained stalled since November 2005 after the DPRK walked out of the negotiation in response to U.S. sanctions. At the end of last month, chief negotiators of the DPRK, the United States, the ROK and Japan came to Beijing to join their Chinese counterpart in laying the groundwork for resuming the talks. North Korea repeated its demand Monday that the US drop its "hostile" policy against Pyongyang as a condition for disarmament at revived nuclear talks, a South Korean official said. "North Korea basically seems to say that it cannot dismantle its nuclear program unless the US drops what it calls a hostile policy," a South Korean official said on condition of anonymity due to sensitivity of ongoing talks.
The North said it doesn't care if other countries accept it as a nuclear state and that it was just satisfied with the fact it had nuclear weapons, the official added. North Korea outlined a series of strong demands in its opening remarks at revived nuclear talks, the first held since its October 9 atomic test. "North Korea has listed the maximum demands it can make in its speech," the official said. North Korea's speech "covered all issues that had been brought up so far."

—Daily Mail, People’s Daily news exchange item