US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed her North Korean counterpart to move rapidly on new nuclear disarmament steps yesterday, but hailed the “good spirit” at unprecedented six-party talks.
Rice said she shook hands twice with North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun, whom she met for the first time as she and her negotiating partners gave him a “very tough message” for Pyongyang to meet its obligations.
The pair met in Singapore with their counterparts from China, South Korea, Russia and Japan.
The US would like North Korea to agree to a US draft protocol setting out the arrangements for verifying the steps it has taken toward disarmament since a landmark agreement in February last year.
It hopes the protocol will be decided on early next month to allow for the start of verification in which experts would inspect North Korean plants, take soil samples, review documents and interview technical personnel.
“We didn’t get into specific timetables,” Rice told reporters afterward.
“Look, the spirit was good because the people believe we’ve made progress, but there is also a sense of urgency about moving on and a sense that we can’t afford another hiatus of several months,” she said.
Begun in 2003 before lapsing for three years, the six-country disarmament negotiations resumed after North Korea staged its first nuclear test in 2006.
The negotiations hit a deadlock at the end of last year when North Korea failed to meet a deadline to fully disable its weapons-grade plutonium plants and deliver a full account of its nuclear programs.
The deadlock was broken last month when North Korea handed over a partial account of its nuclear programs.
US President George W. Bush has begun the procedure to remove North Korea from a blacklist of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism as well as ease economic sanctions on North Korea, though most remain in place.
But North Korea said yesterday that Washington had not lived up to its side of the bargain.
Pak “emphasized the need for full implementation by the six parties [of] the respected obligations of each side” under previous agreements, North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Ri Tong-il said.
The principle was based on “action for action,” Pak said.
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