U.S. envoy hopes for N. Korea nuclear road map

Hill described meetings as “positive,” after he and delegates from China, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia held a series of bilateral discussions and a group meet as the talks resumed following a two month break.

“We are hoping that sometime tomorrow (Friday) we can circulate a text of a joint statement for this round and agree on a kind of road map that will take us to the end of the year,” Hill told journalists.

“It will specify those things that need to be done by year end.”

Delegates would seek to issue the joint statement by Sunday and work towards full declaration and disablement of the nuclear programs by the end of the year, he said.

Hill was speaking after North Korea signalled it would push ahead with nuclear disarmament as the long-running talks resumed.

While not giving specifics, top North Korean envoy Kim Kye-Gwan promised concrete developments in the ongoing session, which is due to last until Sunday.

“We have agreed not to disappoint you by producing a result out of the six-party talks,” Kim told reporters after meeting with Hill over dinner on Wednesday night.

“The concrete details will be disclosed in the process of talks.”

Wu Dawei, the chief envoy from China, which is the traditional host of the talks, also voiced optimism as the gathering got underway.

“This meeting is an important one in the six-party talks process,” Wu said in an opening statement to the envoys.

“Under the joint nurturing of all parties, the six-party talks have been growing robustly in the right direction. A new harvest season looms in front of us.”

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email