North and South Korean delegations to this week's six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions agreed at a meeting yesterday that solid progress needs to be made during the upcoming discussions, while the American representative predicted it likely wouldn't be the last round of negotiations.
The 100-minute meeting was led by South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, said Bae Young-han, a spokesman for the delegation from Seoul.
"They have agreed on the need to make substantial progress" at this round of talks, said Bae, the director general for press and public relations at South Korea's Foreign Ministry. He said the delegates discussed "many issues," but would not give any details.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited Song as saying that the two sides "agreed to come up with a framework to realize denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." It did not elaborate.
Song also said the two Koreas agreed to maintain bilateral contact throughout the talks, and to cooperate to bring results, according to the Yonhap report.
Earlier this month, Seoul offered Pyongyang a new incentive to the ongoing talks -- 2 million kilowatts of electricity by 2008 after infrastructure is built if the North agrees to dismantle its nuclear weapons.
The latest round of six-nation talks also involving the US, China, Japan and Russia are set to begin on tomorrow.
"I wouldn't expect this to be the last set of negotiations," Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the top American delegate, told reporters after arriving in Beijing. "The negotiations have been in suspension ... for over a year, so we have to see where we go with these. We would like to make some measurable progress."
He did not indicate what Washington considers that to be.
"It's going to take a little time, it's going to take a lot of work," Hill said. "But we come here in a real spirit of trying to make some real progress."
North Korea said earlier this month it would end its 13-month boycott of the talks after being reassured by a US envoy that Washington recognized its sovereignty.
Three previous meetings hosted by Beijing have failed to resolve the nuclear standoff, sparked in 2002 after US officials accused the reclusive Stalinist regime of running a secret uranium enrichment program.
Pyongyang has repeatedly said its nuclear weapons programs are a "self-defensive deterrent force" against what it calls hostile US policies.
In February, the North publicly claimed it had nuclear weapons and has since made moves that would allow it to harvest more radioactive material for bombs. While it hasn't performed any known nuclear tests that would confirm it can make a functioning atomic weapon, experts believe Pyongyang has enough weapons-grade plutonium for about a half-dozen bombs.
also see story:
Japan to discuss fate of abductees at nuclear talks
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative