Envoys work on revising draft agreement

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with start of third-day session, envoys' comments; CHANGES headline)
By Lee Chi-dong
BEIJING, Dec. 10 (Yonhap) -- Negotiators here began their third and possibly last day of talks Wednesday focused on reaching an agreement over ways to inspect North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
Also on the agenda is completion of the slow-going disablement of the North's
main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon and setting a new timetable for delivering
promised energy aid to the North.
"I think we will work on modifying a draft deal distributed by China yesterday to
reflect each party's positions," said Kim Sook, Seoul's representative to the
six-nation talks. Kim was headed to the Chinese state guest house Diaoyutai, the
venue for the session that also involves the U.S., Russia, and Japan.
Kim's comments were in reference to a draft of a verification protocol which host
China circulated to the other participants. Its contents remain undisclosed.
Kim was guarded about media reports of progress in the talks.
"We are in more in the process of deepening discussions to reflect each country's
position than narrowing the differences," he said. "We are making efforts to
reach an agreement by clearing misunderstandings triggered by ambiguous
expressions and replacing them with expressions that are as clear as possible."
Washington's top envoy Christopher Hill said his government had more suggestions
on the draft.
"There are some additional comments received from Washington," he said. "I think
the key thing is to figure out whether this is a draft that everyone can work on
or not."
Following the last round of talks in July, North Korea agreed to grant inspectors
acces to "facilities, review of documents, interviews with technical personnel
and other measures unanimously agreed upon among the six parties." The
verification protocol now being planned will provide more detailed guidelines on
which inspection measures will be used.
The negotiators are pushing for a package deal on the verification issue with the
disabling of the Yongbyon reactor and energy assistance.
A source privy to the talks hinted at progress on a key sticking point -- whether
sampling will be used to inspect the North's nuclear facilities.
"The six parties reached a rough consensus on sampling," the source said on the
condition of anonymity.
Additional discussions are needed on other issues, such as the role of the
International Atomic Energy Agency and access to facilities excluded from
Pyongyang's June declaration of its nuclear inventory, according to the source.
This round of talks is scheduled to end Wednesday but negotiators say it may be
extended by one or two days. It may go into a recess if a deal is not tangible,
according to the source.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)