(News Focus) Verification deal uncertain in new disarmament talks

By Lee Chi-dong

BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Yonhap) - Veteran negotiators geared up Sunday for a new round of six-way talks on the protracted North Korean nuclear crisis, expressing caution about any hope for major progress on the key agenda item -- the methodology for inspecting Pyongyang's nuclear facilities.

"I am not optimistic at all," South Korea's top envoy Kim Sook openly said on the
eve of the resumption of the negotiations here, the first session in five months
and probably the last one before the Bush administration leaves.
Chief American negotiator Christopher Hill also expected difficult talks.
"I am sure the negotiations will be, as usual, difficult," he told reporters last
week after two days of inconclusive discussions with his North Korean counterpart
Kim Kye-gwan in Singapore aimed at narrowing differences before the six-way forum
also involving China, Russia, and Japan.
It remains unclear whether the negotiators' cautiousness is intended to lower
media expectations, but certainly, Pyongyang's attitude will set the tone for the
negotiations as usual.
The U.S. and North Korea apparently have different priorities.
"It is the main task of the talks to ensure the speed of economic compensation by
the five parties to the talks as called for by the principle of 'action for
action' as it is delayed as compared with the DPRK's speed of disablement and
achieve common understanding of the issue of verification," a North Korean
foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement released on Saturday.
DPRK, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is North Korea's official name.
The Chosun Sinbo newspaper, published by pro-Pyongyang residents of Japan, said
in a report later that this week's talks are to wrap up last year's
aid-for-denculearization deal.
"The focus of the negotiations is to establish a clear outlook for completing the
economic compensation from the five parties," said the newspaper which echoes the
North's political stance.
The North has received about 500,000 tons of heavy oil or its equivalent, half of
the promised sum, in return for the slow-going disabling of its main nuclear
facilities in Yongbyon.
South Korea, the U.S., and Japan made it clear that Pyongyang will be eligible
for the remaining half only when it signs a verification protocol.
"I don't think North Korea will easily give up the negotiations," a South Korean
foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity. "North Korea is
interested in reaching a deal, as shown in the fact that Vice Foreign Minister
Kim Kye-gwan came to Singapore and Beijing for talks."
North Korea admits that during Hill's trip to Pyongyang in early October, it
consented to "field visit, confirmation of documents and interviews with
technicians," but not sampling which the U.S. says is crucial to verification.
Hill said the format and wording can be negotiated. "The issue is how to express
it in a piece of paper ahead of time so there are no misunderstandings when the
time comes," he said.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said in a press briefing last week
that it is a matter of "art of negotiation."
One option considered is reportedly adopting a main verification protocol to be
made public and a secondary agreement on sampling which will be kept secret.
It means negotiators here will have to produce three documents, incluing the
chairman's statement to be issued by China to summarize the outcome of the talks.
China plans to end the talks on Wednesday but the negotiations may be extended,
South Korean officials said.