North Korean disarmament talks were extended as envoys struggled for agreement over a Chinese proposal that would let Pyongyang keep its civilian nuclear power program after it disarms.
After the heads of all six delegations met twice yesterday morning in Beijing to exchange opinions on the document, host China said the negotiations were almost finished.
"The talks are drawing to an end," the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao. It gave no explanation, but said delegates would meet again today.
It was not immediately clear if today would be the last day of this round of talks, and officials were not available for comment.
State-run China Central Television's CCTV 9 network reported that the US and North Korea remained at odds, but its reporter said, "For more information, we'll have to be more patient and wait and see."
"We'll see where we are at the end of the day," US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said earlier yesterday as he left his hotel. Hill said he would stay in Beijing another day.
Hill also said on Saturday, after discussions that dragged late into the night, that some countries among the six participating in the talks had indicated that they were dissatisfied with the compromise proposed by China
"We're all very supportive of the document, the issue is tactics of how we express elements in the document," Hill said yesterday morning. "Some delegations prefer to leave some things more ambiguous, my delegation would like to see things less ambiguous."
Envoys said they wanted to keep talking until they reach an agreement.
"Since we do not have a set date, we will continue negotiations to coordinate each party's interests with the draft that has been proposed," Song Min-soon, South Korea's deputy foreign minister, said as he left his hotel early yesterday.
The talks in Beijing involve China, Japan, Russia, the US and the two Koreas.
The North has been offered economic aid, security guarantees from Washington and free electricity from South Korea in exchange for dismantling its weapons program. Pyongyang has demanded it be given a nuclear reactor for generating electricity before disarming, promising to open such a facility to co-management and international inspections.
The new Chinese draft affirms Pyongyang's right to peaceful nuclear activities after it ends its weapons program. Washington has insisted the North cannot be trusted with any nuclear program, given its history of pursuing atomic bombs.
North Korea has not directly commented on the proposal, but on Friday, after it was put forward, a spokesman for Pyongyang denounced efforts to get it to give up its nuclear program without concessions by the US and called such demands "brigandish."
"Clearly, they have some problems with the draft but we have some problems as well," Hill said Saturday of North Korea's stance.
Hill said he was making frequent calls to Washington, and added yesterday that he had spoken more than once with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice was planning to contact foreign ministers of nations involved in the talks, Hill said.
He praised the Chinese for trying to bridge the differences between the six countries, but said Washington could not accept a vague statement of principles that would leave tough issues for later.
Tokyo's envoy said earlier that none of the participants, including Japan, was completely happy with China's proposal.
Negotiators were "working up to the last minute," said Kenichiro Sasae, director of the Asia and Oceania Bureau at Japan's Foreign Ministry.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, who hosted a banquet for the chief delegates Saturday night, urged the envoys to end the "cold war state" on the Korean Peninsula and accept what he described as the "most realistic scenario for the relevant parties to reach an accord," Xinhua reported.
In the North's only public comments at the talks, spokesman Hyun Hak Bong on Friday reiterated Pyongyang's insistence that it needs nuclear weapons for its own defense -- against what it says is a threat from the US.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was