ID :
35071
Thu, 12/11/2008 - 14:37
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/35071
The shortlink copeid
Stalled talks may end without deal By Lee Chi-dong
BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Yonhap) -- Veteran negotiators at this week's six-way talks on the North Korean nuclear program risked going back home without a deal Thursday in what is probably the last chance for the Bush administration to save a troubled aid-for-denuclearization agreement signed last year.
Pyongyang refused to allow international inspectors to take samples from soil and
waste at its nuclear sites for analysis at foreign laboratories, South Korean
envoy Kim Sook said.
"There are several core contents in a (planned) verification protocol, especially
scientific procedures including sampling. North Korea said it can't accept that.
It gave fundamental and comprehensive reasons," Kim told reporters Wednesday
night after the third-day session.
North Korea, which conducted an underground nuclear test in 2006, reiterated its
claim that it is a nuclear state, he said, although the international community
does not recognize it as such.
Documenting detailed verification methods is a key goal in this week's six-way
talks also involving the U.S., China, Russia, and Japan.
Christopher Hill, Washington's representative to the talks, also said no progress
was made.
"We have not achieved our goal," he said. "It's not trending in the right
direction."
The comments by Kim and Hill raised the possibility that the talks, which were
originally supposed to end Wednesday, will finish without any significant deal.
Host China has not called an end to the negotiations yet. Envoys from the other
parties waited for China's decision on whether to continue talks.
The South Korean negotiator doubted that China will present a modified draft of a
verification protocol, saying differences remain too wide.
The stalemate in discussions on the verification issue will affect negotiations
on the other main agenda items -- a timetable for completing the North's
disabling of its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and energy aid from its dialogue
partners.
South Korea said it pushed for a package deal. "The issues of verification and
energy assistance are comprehensively connected," its envoy Kim said earlier.
lcd@yna.co.kr
H-MD
Pyongyang refused to allow international inspectors to take samples from soil and
waste at its nuclear sites for analysis at foreign laboratories, South Korean
envoy Kim Sook said.
"There are several core contents in a (planned) verification protocol, especially
scientific procedures including sampling. North Korea said it can't accept that.
It gave fundamental and comprehensive reasons," Kim told reporters Wednesday
night after the third-day session.
North Korea, which conducted an underground nuclear test in 2006, reiterated its
claim that it is a nuclear state, he said, although the international community
does not recognize it as such.
Documenting detailed verification methods is a key goal in this week's six-way
talks also involving the U.S., China, Russia, and Japan.
Christopher Hill, Washington's representative to the talks, also said no progress
was made.
"We have not achieved our goal," he said. "It's not trending in the right
direction."
The comments by Kim and Hill raised the possibility that the talks, which were
originally supposed to end Wednesday, will finish without any significant deal.
Host China has not called an end to the negotiations yet. Envoys from the other
parties waited for China's decision on whether to continue talks.
The South Korean negotiator doubted that China will present a modified draft of a
verification protocol, saying differences remain too wide.
The stalemate in discussions on the verification issue will affect negotiations
on the other main agenda items -- a timetable for completing the North's
disabling of its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and energy aid from its dialogue
partners.
South Korea said it pushed for a package deal. "The issues of verification and
energy assistance are comprehensively connected," its envoy Kim said earlier.
lcd@yna.co.kr
H-MD
