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US, China, North Korea to meet on nuclear crisis next
week in Beijing
WASHINGTON (AFP) High-ranking diplomats
from the United States, China and North Korea are to
meet next week in Beijing for talks on a simmering
nuclear crisis, a senior US official and diplomatic
sources said.
The meeting -- which will be the first direct
high-level talks between Washington and Pyongyang
since the crisis erupted in October -- appears to be a
compromise between the US demand for multilateral
discussions on the crisis and North Korea's insistence
on a one-on-one dialogue with the United States.
"We have succeeded in our efforts to establish a
multilateral framework," the US official told AFP on
condition of anonymity.
However, the talks will be notable for the absence of
the two closest US partners in dealing with North
Korea, Japan and South Korea, the sources said,
confirming a report in published late Tuesday on the
New York Times website.
The sources said that Pyongyang, which has alarmed
North Asia with its drive for nuclear weapons, has
insisted that the three-way format was the only option
it would accept.
"This is an initial beginning of dialogue, we wanted
them (the Japanese and South Koreans) there but the
North Koreans were insistent that it only be the three,"
the senior US official said.
The official said that an agreement on the three-way
meeting had been brokered by China in a "counter-proposal"
to US suggestions for a larger group of participants
presented to North Korea.
In the proposal, Beijing also agreed to take an active
role in the talks, the sources said, adding that this
had appealed to the Pyongyang which has long relied on
China as its closest ally.
US acceptance of the North Korean requirement seemed
to signal a major concession but Secretary of State
Colin Powell said earlier Tuesday that "ultimately"
the concerns of all North Korea's neighbors would be
addressed.
"The one thing that is absolutely clear is that, at
whatever level it starts and with whatever attendance
it has to ultimately encompass the views and thoughts
of all the neighbors in the region," Powell told
reporters.
In addition, the sources confirmed the Times report
that said Washington "reserved the right" to add other
participants to the talks as they continued, including
Russia.
The sources also said US officials had assured both
Seoul and Tokyo that they would be consulted on a
daily basis.
The US State Department and the South Korean foreign
ministry declined to comment on the planned talks.
North Korean diplomats in Beijing said they had not
heard of any such meeting and the Chinese foreign
ministry was not immediately available for comment.
The exact dates for the Beijing discussions were not
immmediately clear, but in an ironic twist, the US
delegation will be led by Assistant Secretary of State
for East Asia and the Pacific James Kelly, the sources
said.
Kelly's visit to Pyongyang last October precipitated
the crisis, when he accused North Korea of pursuing a
nuclear program based on enriched uranium in violation
of a 1994 anti-nuclear deal.
Since then, Pyongyang has ratcheted up tension,
expelling international nuclear inspectors, testing
missiles and announcing its withdrawal on January 10
from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Next week's talks will be the culmination of weeks of
secret diplomacy, conducted through North Koreans
diplomats at the United Nations and US contacts with
powers including China, Russia, Australia and South
Korea.
Those efforts, particularly those by the Chinese, paid
off over the weekend when North Korea said it was
willing to drop its insistance on bilateral talks with
the United States under the right conditions, the
sources said.
The planned meeting will also highlight the growing
cooperation between China and the United States which
have seen their interests coincide after a rocky start
to relations when President George W. Bush took office
in 2001.
North Korea asserts that its very existence is
threatened by US plans to launch nuclear war against
the isolated and impoverished country, branded Bush
part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and Iraq.
(16/04/2003)
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