U.S. expects fresh 6-way talks to resume soon

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (Yonhap) -- The United States said Monday the next round of
six-party nuclear talks will be held soon to address ways of verifying the
nuclear list presented by North Korea months ago.
"I don't think that it's delayed. The Chinese will make an announcement at some
point, as chair of the six-party talks," State Department deputy spokesman Robert
Wood said. "But we expect that there will be a meeting soon. But I haven't seen
any dates yet."
The spokesman's remarks come amid reports that the multilateral nuclear talks
involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia may not he held by
the end of October as was widely expected a week or so ago after North Korea
resumed disabling its nuclear facilities.
South Korean and U.S. officials have said they wanted to schedule the talks
before the Nov. 4 U.S. presidential election.
The six-party talks last were held in July when North Korea agreed to disable its
nuclear facilities by the end of October in return for 1 million tons of energy
or equivalent aid to be provided by that time.
Another official, requesting anonymity, said that the much-awaited talks will
likely be postponed somewhat due to "scheduling problems" rather than the
substance of the talks.
He said he saw no reason for the North to delay the talks significantly, noting
the North had already agreed to the terms of the verification of its nuclear
facilities.
The North recently agreed to allow access to its declared nuclear facilities as
well as undeclared sites by U.S. and other international inspectors by "mutual
consent" in a major breakthrough in the nuclear talks.
Washington then lifted the North from the U.S. list of state sponsors of
terrorism, and Pyongyang responded by resuming disabling of its nuclear
facilities, which it stopped in August.
North Korea has reapplied all the seals to its plutonium-producing nuclear
reactor and restored all the surveillance equipment it removed from its nuclear
facilities in recent weeks, the State Department said last week.
Wood said the disablement process continued over the past weekend.
"You know, reversing the reversal continues," he said in a daily news briefing.
"Things are still moving in a positive direction and we'll just continue to see
how things go."
On the reports that North Korea may make an important announcement, the spokesman
said, "I have no idea about any announcement coming up. We'll just have to see if
indeed something does come forward, but unfortunately I can't add to it."