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US, China meet on reviving N.Korea nuclear talks

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 April 2006, 00:30 CDT

By Jack Kim and George Nishiyama

TOKYO (Reuters) - Chinese and U.S. negotiators held talks in Tokyo on Tuesday to seek a way to bring North Korea back to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program, but Washington's envoy insisted the ball was in Pyongyang's court.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said it was time for North Korea to make up its mind to return to the negotiations, which have been stalled since the last round in Beijing in November.

"We discussed specific ideas about how we could make the process move ahead," Hill told reporters after meeting Wu Dawei, top Chinese envoy and host of the six-party negotiations, declining to elaborate further.

But Hill said he saw little need and had no plans to meet his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, who is also attending a conference in Tokyo.

"They've got to get themselves to Beijing, bring some position on how they are going to denuclearize," Hill told reporters earlier on Tuesday.

"We have done our homework. They need to do their homework, and then we need to get on with it."

Kim said on Monday that Washington must lift what he called financial sanctions against North Korea before it would return to the six-party talks, aimed at preventing a nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.

Hill has said Pyongyang must not set preconditions.

All the chief delegates to the six-party talks are in Tokyo, most of them to attend a private forum on security issues.

TO MEET OR NOT TO MEET?

Analysts have said China, the host of the six-way talks and a close ally of North Korea, is keen to get agreement to resume the negotiations before President Hu Jintao meets President Bush in Washington next week.

"We haven't reached a conclusion yet, but you can have some expectations," Wu said after meeting Hill.

Wu, who had originally planned to return home on Tuesday, extended his stay in Tokyo at least for a day, Chinese officials said.

Despite the tough talk, speculation persists that U.S. and North Korean negotiators might meet on the sidelines of the Tokyo forum.

Washington has cracked down on financial institutions that it suspects of assisting Pyongyang in illicit financial activities, including money laundering and counterfeiting U.S. currency.

The U.S. Treasury Department has branded Macau-based Banco Delta Asia as a "willing pawn" in North Korea's illicit financial activities.

North Korea denies any involvement in such activities, while Washington says its crackdown is purely a law enforcement matter and is separate from the six-party process.

"Our concern is illicit activities (that) are pretty small issues. We are talking about $24 million in Macau," Hill said, adding that Pyongyang could benefit far more economically if it halted its nuclear programs.

The six countries in the talks are the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China. They agreed in September that North Korea would end all nuclear programs in return for aid and a promise of security and better diplomatic ties.

But the last session in November, aimed at compiling a plan to implement that deal, yielded no progress.

(Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano and Teruaki Ueno)

Source: REUTERS

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