Envoys meet in Beijing on stalled NKorean nuclear deal
Posted: 09 April 2008 1537 hrs

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	Related News • US reports 'good discussion' with North Korea over nuclear impasse • US envoy says time running out to resolve NKorea nuclear impasse

BEIJING - The six parties to the North Korean nuclear disarmament agreement gathered in Beijing on Wednesday for discussions aimed at jump-starting the denuclearisation process.

China's foreign ministry said in a notice to foreign media that Chinese envoy Wu Dawei would meet separately with envoys from the other five nations.

A US embassy spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that US negotiator Christopher Hill also would meet separately with some of his counterparts.

"(Hill) is meeting today with his counterparts from the Japanese and South Korean six-party talks delegations and the Russian embassy and he will be meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei," embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson said.

North Korean envoy Kim Kye-Gwan was seen going into talks with Wu in the morning.

The series of bilateral meetings follows talks between Hill and Kim in Singapore on Tuesday, which the US envoy called "a good discussion."

While he said no agreement had been reached in Singapore, Hill indicated at possible news out of the Beijing meetings.

"We will not be announcing any agreement of any kind here in Singapore but, if all goes well, I hope we can have some further statements in Beijing tomorrow, which would involve some follow-on activity," he said.

Going into the Singapore talks, Hill had warned that "we are kind of running out of time" to resolve the impasse.

Washington has been pushing North Korea to come clean on its entire nuclear programme as a key step in the 2007 six-nation denuclearisation deal that also involves China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

The deal grants North Korea -- which tested an atomic weapon in 2006 -- energy aid and major diplomatic and security benefits in return for full denuclearisation.

The current phase of the deal required the North to disable its main plutonium-producing plants and declare all nuclear activities by the end of last year.

The North says it submitted the declaration in November. But the United States says it has not accounted for an alleged secret uranium enrichment programme or for alleged proliferation to Syria.

- AFP /ls