Reuters AlertNet Lite - U.S., N. Korea plan another meeting for Wednesday

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U.S., N. Korea plan another meeting for Wednesday

28 Nov 2006 20:41:20 GMT
Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Senior U.S. and North Korean officials plan to meet in Beijing on Wednesday as they try to prepare for fresh multilateral talks on ending Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear arms, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

The meeting between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and North Korean senior envoy Kim Kye-gwan would be their second in two days following a round of talks in Beijing on Tuesday.

Those discussions largely focused on what the United States wants North Korea to do to demonstrate its commitment to giving up its nuclear weapons programs, said a senior State Department official who spoke on condition that he not be identified.

"The primary purpose of this particular meeting (on Tuesday) was to talk to the North Koreans about ... what North Korea needs to do," said the official.

The Beijing talks are designed to lay the groundwork for a fresh round of six-party talks -- which include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States -- on ending North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

U.S. officials have said they want North Korea to come to the next round ready to take concrete steps to show it is committed to abandoning nuclear weapons, saying there is deep skepticism about this following its Oct. 9 nuclear test.

Under a six-party agreement reached on Sept. 19, 2005, North Korea said it was committed "to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes." In return, the other nations held out economic, political and security incentives.

The senior U.S. official said that before the next round of six-party talks he expected there to be a full airing of what the United States and the other nations might do for North Korea. But he provided no details on this.

"The operating premise here is good faith actions in return for good faith (actions)," he said.

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Last updated:Tue Nov 28 20:42:45 2006