Talks deadlocked; DPRK wish for peaceful nuke activities
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-08-05 10:53

Acknowledging the existence of different opinions among the six delegations, Qin emphasized that all the negotiators were endeavouring to narrow the differences.

"We've been able to deepen mutual understanding in the talks and there has been no breakdown," he said.

Russia's chief delegate Alexander Alexeyev, who left Beijing for home last weekend but returned to the Chinese capital yesterday for the talks, said he expected the discussions to continue "about one or two more days," the ITAR-Tass News Agency reported.

Despite the lack of an agreement all sides in the talks, which also include China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, want to keep the negotiations going, Hill and others said, AFP reported.

"We are very much getting to the end game. We really have the desire to see if we reach an agreement," Hill said. "I suspect we are really getting to the last couple of days of this."

The fourth round of the Six-Party Talks, opened last Tuesday in Beijing, are the longest since the talks were launched in 2003 and have been characterized by frequent one-on-one meetings between Washington and Pyongyang, the most critical participants.

The six parties have held 72 bilateral consultations, exceeding the total number bilateral meetings held during the previous three rounds of the talks.

China have held 14 one-on-one meetings with the US and 11 with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), seven with Japan, six with Russia and four with the Republic of Korea (ROK), said Qin.

The United States and the DPRK delegates have so far met nine times, with the latest meeting yesterday reportedly arranged by the ROK.

The two sides might still have the chance to meet again, Qin said.

A collapse of the latest round could prompt Washington to take the issue to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions, according to the AFP report.

The crisis erupted in October 2002 when the United States accused the North of running a secretive uranium enrichment program.

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