North Korea and U.S. Meet During Six-Nation Talks

Diplomats close to the discussions warned against viewing the meeting as a breakthrough.

“I would not say I am feeling great optimism,” Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said, who is leading the Russian delegation at the six-country talks.

“The situation is quite fragile. First of all, that has to do with contacts between the American and North Korean delegations. At the moment, there are no grounds for saying that the talks have broken down,” Losyukov said.

Despite Losyukov’s negative sentiments, Chinese diplomats, who are hosting the talks, called the day a success, Reuters reported.

“I heard talks this morning and this afternoon were very successful,” China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said to delegates at a reception later in the day.

“I congratulate you,” he said. “This also implies everybody reached an important consensus and that is everybody hopes the Korean peninsula will be stable, peaceful and denuclearized.”

The talks among China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia and the United States came after U.S. officials accused North Korea in October of having a secret nuclear weapons program.

North Korea “may drop its nuclear program if it gets legally binding guarantees that the United States won’t attack it,” Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted Losyukov as saying.

But North Korea will not allow any inspections unless the “American threat is neutralized,” Losyukov said.

“The issue of when and in what form inspections will be carried out is a very difficult question for further negotiations. They understand they will have to prove they’ve actually dropped their nuclear program, and that’s where such inspections will be required,” Losyukov said.

The United States is demanding an unconditional elimination of North Korea’s nuclear program before making any concessions.

“So far, the countries have put forward a number of preliminary demands regarding each other, which are blocking the development of these talks,” Losyukov said.

The North Korean government had demanded one-on-one talks with the United States, but agreed to multilateral talks when Beijing offered to host the meeting.

As the six nations convened, the two nations’ top envoys, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il, shook hands before taking their seats at the hexagonal table in the Chinese government’s state guest house.

Though most of the discussions today were held with the six nations, U.S. and North Korean ambassadors held a bilateral talk today for about 30 to 40 minutes, according to the head of the South Korean delegation, Wi Sung-lac.

“The United States and North Korea freely held bilateral talks in the meeting room,” Mr. Wi said.

The talks between the two officials came hours after the North Korean government insisted the United States agree to a nonaggression treaty, the Associated Press reported.

“The U.S. side made comments about easing North Korea’s security concerns, but I cannot give you any more details. From what North Koreans said during the meeting, we could read that North Korea is willing to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue,” the South Korean official said.

The talks are expected to continue until Friday.