No progress made in first-day negotiations: envoys

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- Negotiators here failed Monday to narrow differences on the main agenda -- how to inspect North Korea's nuclear facilities -- in their first-day talks, South Korea's top envoy said.

"There was no progress," Kim Sook told reporters, returning from China's state
guest house Daioyutai, the venue for the six-party talks. "I felt that North
Korea is not ready yet to have additional discussions and reach a compromise (on
the verification issue)."
In its bilateral talks with the U.S. in early October, North Korea agreed to
allow international inspectors to make field visits, review related documents,
and interview technicians. But it is objecting to sampling, which the U.S. and
other nations consider crucial to checking the accuracy of Pyongyang's
self-claimed details of its nuclear inventory.
On the promised energy aid for the North, another major agenda item, the South
Korean negotiators said all the parties reached a consensus to wrap up the
delivery by March of next year.
He made clear, however, that the timetable will be tied to progress in putting
the verification methods in writing.
"As we can't resolve one thing, leaving the other unresolved, the two things are
comprehensively connected," he said, signaling a push for a package deal.
Top American envoy Christopher Hill also said, "The Chinese are going to try to
... put together a draft and circulate something tomorrow."
Host China appealed for flexibility to produce an agreement at the first round of
six-way talks in five months.
"We should participate in the meeting with a flexible and pragmatic attitude. We
need joint efforts to narrow differences and lay a solid foundation for promoting
talks into next phase," the Chinese vice foreign minister said in his brief
comments in the opening session.
He also called on the six nations to implement their obligations in accordance
with the "word for word and action for action" principles.
As the U.S. and its allies place more emphasis on the verification issue, the
North made it clear that it has a different priority.
"This round of talks is a gathering aimed at finalizing the implementation of the
Oct. 3 agreement that stipulates the action plan for the second phase of (the
three-tier) denuclearization process," the Chosun Sinbo newspaper, published by
pro-Pyongyang residents in Japan, said Monday.
"The core agenda to be discussed at the talks is to complete the economic
assistance from the five parties," added the newspaper, which echoes the North's
political stance.
Under the deal last year, the North began disabling its main plutonium-producing
reactor in Yongbyon in return for the promised delivery of 1 million tons of
heavy fuel. About half of it has been shipped to the North so far.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)