N. Korean talks could resume in June
(Bloomberg)
Updated: 2005-04-07 09:53

China's envoy to the United Nations said Wednesday that a meeting April 2 between officials in Beijing and Pyongyang was ``very positive'' and that talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program could resume in June.

``We are working to make sure we pave the way for the resumption of the six-party talks very soon,'' Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said in New York. ``I think it will be a couple months. Everyone is talking about June.''

In this photo released by the United Nations, China's ambassador to the United Nations Wang Guangya, left, meets with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan at U.N. headquarters, Wednesday, March 30, 2005. [AP/file]

The North Korean delegates, who visited China, ``indicated that they believe six-party talks are the way, although sometimes they have certain conditions,'' Wang said. The U.S., Russia, South Korea and Japan have joined three previous rounds of inconclusive negotiations.

North Korea rejected a fourth round while announcing Feb. 10 that it had developed nuclear weapons. 

``We have no indication that North Korea has yet agreed to return to the table,'' US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters in Washington Wednesday, adding that the U.S. remains ``prepared to hold talks with no preconditions, and we urge North Korea to return to the table.''

Security Guarantee

North Korean officials have demanded a formal guarantee from the U.S. that it won't attack, a request the U.S. has refused to grant.

``We have said we would be prepared to consider North Korea's energy needs,'' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said March 21 in Beijing. ``We have said North Korea is a sovereign country. We don't intend to attack North Korea.''

Rice called the nuclear efforts of North Korea and Iran a worldwide threat Tuesday.

``While we may never know the exact nature of any of these programs, we also have to be very careful not to under-react to the fact that you have closed societies that are ambitious in their policies, that are trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction,'' she told an Associated Press reporter.

North Korea has also questioned Japan's intentions and objected to its presence at the table.

``Japan is more interested in securing its own interests than the peaceful solution,'' the state-run KCNA reported, according to an April 2 story from South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. ``Japan's participation at the talks only complicates the problem and blocks its solution.''

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