Six-way meeting on peace regime set for Feb. 19-20 in Moscow

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea and its five dialogue partners in ongoing
denuclearization talks will convene a meeting later this month as scheduled in
Moscow on ways to establish a regional security mechanism, officials here said
Monday.

The announcement comes despite a stall in broader talks over the North's nuclear
program.
"Russia has informed us that the working group meeting will be held on Feb.
19-20," a foreign ministry official said, asking not to be named as his ministry
has yet to make an official announcement.
Russia chairs the group within the six-party framework also involving the U.S.,
China, and Japan. The other four working groups are designed to discuss energy
assistance for North Korea, denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, normalizing
North Korea-U.S. relations and normalizing North Korea-Japan ties.
Two previous meetings on a security mechanism, the first in March 2007 on the
sidelines of six-way talks in Beijing followed by the second five months later in
Moscow, failed to produce tangible results amid slow-going discussions on ridding
North Korea of its atomic weapons program.
South Korea will be represented by Hur Chul, director general of the ministry's
Korean Peninsula peace regime bureau, in the upcoming session.
"Participants from North Korea, the U.S. and the other nations are not known
yet," the official said.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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