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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| US envoy says North Korea talks in bad way |
| 2006-09-06 |
| BEIJING - Efforts to drive North Korea back to stalled nuclear talks are in big trouble, the top US negotiator said on Wednesday after meeting a senior Chinese official to try and forge a breakthrough. ‘I think clearly we are in a very difficult moment with the six-party talks process because the DPRK (North Korea) is not giving the signals it wants to return,’ Christopher Hill told reporters in Beijing. Hill’s latest trip to the region comes amid media reports that North Korea could soon test a nuclear bomb. Pyongyang said in February 2005 that it was a nuclear power but is not known to have tested an atomic weapon. The US envoy, who is on a regional tour, said he had spoken with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei about ‘the danger that the DPRK could take additional, provocative steps.’ ‘We talked about the need to make very clear to the DPRK that this would be a very, very unwelcome development,’ he told reporters, when asked directly about a possible nuclear test. The North agreed in principle in September last year to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid and security guarantees. But Pyongyang walked out of talks two months later to protest US sanctions on a Macau-based bank accused of laundering and counterfeiting money on behalf of the impoverished regime. The six-nation talks -- involving China, the United States, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia -- were further waylaid when North Korea tested ballistic missiles in July. The tests resulted in a UN Security Council resolution which called on the global community to work together to prevent North Korea from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and urged Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 What's the downside? The fact that we're wasting time when we could be bombing Kim's train off the rails. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-09-06 23:16 |
| #2 "Efforts to drive North Korea back to stalled nuclear talks are in big trouble" What's the downside? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-09-06 22:48 |
| #1 Nicely ambiguous headline. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2006-09-06 12:15 |