Senior U.S. Official Says Second Round of Six-Nation Talks to Be Held in Mid-December

A second round of six-nation talks to settle the North Korean nuclear issue is likely to be held in mid-December, a senior official of the U.S. Bush administration revealed. He added that an official announcement will be made this week or next week after Wang Yi, deputy director of China’s Foreign Ministry and China’s delegate in the first talks, confers with North Korea.

Wang visited Washington last week and consulted with Secretary of State Collin Powell and Vice-Secretary of National Defense Paul Wolfowitz on the scheduling of the second round of talks.

According to Kyoto, the Japanese government is considering trying to arrange for the second talks to be held after December 15, following the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit talks in Tokyo that will take place on December 11 and 12.

However, Asahi Shimbun reported that the U.S. and North Korea have agreed to hold the talks in Beijing, China from December 10 to 13.

Meanwhile, Nihongeizei shimbun has reported that South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are demanding a written document from North Korea declaring an abandonment of its nuclear development program in exchange for guarantees of North Korean security, according to a report from Washington on November 13.

The newspaper also added that the document would include a pledge from North Korea to “comply with verifiable and complete abandonment of its nuclear plan,” along with the acceptance of an investigation by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and a return to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) in its entirety.

Hun-Joo Cho hanscho@donga.com