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North accused of delaying six-way talks

North Korea is dragging its feet over restarting six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons program, despite other participating countries' willingness to move ahead as soon as possible, South Korea's top nuclear negotiator said yesterday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck, South Korea's chief delegate to the talks, gave the assessment before meeting his Japanese counterpart, Mitoji Yabunaka, in Seoul yesterday to discuss resuming the nuclear negotiations.

A second round of talks -- which involved the US, the two Koreas, Japan, China and Russia -- ended in Beijing last month without a major breakthrough.

The participants are trying to form a so-called "working group" next month to nail down details before a full third round, which they'd agreed to convene by June.

"All the countries, except North Korea, think that the working group should meet as soon as possible," Lee said. "Once again, the question of when the talks will resume seems to depend on North Korea's attitude."

Lee hoped that Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (李肇星), who was to visit Pyongyang yesterday, would help set a date for working group talks.

Li would be the first Chinese foreign minister to visit the North in five years.

China, one of communist North Korea's last remaining ideological allies, is a key mediator in the nuclear dispute.

The US insists that the North dismantle its nuclear weapons programs completely and verifiably. Pyongyang says it will do so only if the US provides economic aid and security guarantees.

North Korea threatened on Friday to boost its nuclear arsenal in "quality and quantity," blaming the US for the lack of progress in the nuclear meetings.

It also claimed that joint US-South Korean military exercises, which began on Sunday, were heightening tensions on the Korean peninsula.
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