North Korea agreed in principle today to take initial steps toward dismantling its nuclear programme at the start of international talks seeking the first concrete progress on disarming Pyongyang.
At a closed meeting of heads of delegations from the six countries at the Beijing meeting, all sides agreed that "it is important to reach agreement at this round of talks on first-phase measures," South Korea's envoy Chun Yung-woo told reporters.
He said host China was to circulate a draft agreement by tomorrow morning, but gave no details. Earlier, North Korea's envoy Kim Kye Gwan said upon arriving in Beijing that he was ready to discuss initial steps toward disarmament.
"We are prepared to discuss first-stage measures," Kim told reporters.
American experts who visited Kim in Pyongyang last week said North Korea would propose a freeze of its main nuclear reactor and a resumption of international inspections in exchange for energy aid and a normalisation of relations with Washington. Kim said today that any moves by North Korea would depend on the United States' attitude.
"We are going to make a judgment based on whether the United States will give up its hostile policy and come out toward peaceful coexistence," he said, adding that the US was "well aware" of what it had to do. North Korea has twice boycotted the nuclear talks for more than a year, claiming various US policies show the Bush administration intends to topple its communist government.
"I'm not either optimistic or pessimistic because there are still many points of confrontation to resolve," Kim said. Still, his comments marked a change in North Korea's position from the last round of talks in December, when Kim refused to even discuss disarmament and demanded the lifting of US financial restrictions against a Macau bank where North Korea held accounts.
Earlier today, the main US envoy said he sensed "a real desire to have progress" by the North Koreans at the talks. However, US envoy Christopher Hill denied a Japanese newspaper report that the United States and North Korea had signed a memorandum during bilateral talks last month agreeing that the North's first steps toward denuclearisation and US energy support would begin simultaneously.
At the formal opening of the meeting, Chinese envoy Wu Dawei highlighted the contacts between Washington and Pyongyang since the six nations last gathered, which he said would "provide a more solid basis for this session."
Japanese envoy Kenichiro Sasae demanded in his opening statement that North Korea halt operation of its reactor and allow inspections as initial steps "within a reasonably short period of time," according a statement issued by the Japanese delegation.
The lack of any on-the-ground results in disarming North Korea has raised the issue of the credibility of the talks, which involve China, Japan, Russia, the US and the two Koreas. Since 2003, they have produced only a single joint statement in September 2005 on principles for North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme in exchange for aid and pledges that Washington won't seek the regime's ouster.
Chun said earlier the negotiations were at an "important crossroads" and needed to move beyond words to actions. "Joint efforts, wisdom and flexibility from all six countries are badly needed now more than any other time," the South Korean said.
The latest nuclear standoff with the North was sparked in late 2002 after Washington accused North Korea of having a secret uranium enrichment programme in violation of a 1994 deal between the two countries. North Korea expelled international nuclear inspectors and restarted its reactor, moves that culminated in the country's first-ever test atomic detonation in October.
Although the US and key North Korean allies China and Russia backed UN sanctions in the wake of the nuclear test, Washington has since engaged in a series of diplomatic overtures that have drawn praise from the North. They included Hill's trip to Germany last month to meet the North's Kim, along with separate US-North Korean talks on the financial restrictions placed on the Macau bank.
The US accuses Banco Delta Asia of complicity in North Korea's alleged counterfeiting and money laundering, and blacklisting the bank has scared off other financial institutions from dealing with the North for fears of losing access to the US market.