Six-Party Talks Stall Over Oil Demands

The six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program has entered its final phase, and negotiators are trying to strike a last-minute deal over oil demands in Beijing. The North is said to have demanded the U.S. and four other countries provide it with 1 million tons of heavy oil annually in exchange for shutting down its nuclear facilities on Monday. Some say the communist country demanded an annual gift of additional 1 million tons of heavy oil immediately after closing the nuclear plants.

Diplomatic sources say South Korea showed reluctance to the North’s demand and suggested an annual supply of 500,000 tons of heavy oil, while the U.S. and Japan proposed a deal providing the North with less than 500,000 tons of oil.

Negotiators from the six countries held several bilateral and trilateral meetings at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, focusing on the energy issue, but failed to narrow the gap. Other kinds of energy aid were also discussed.

U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill said to reporters, “We have put everything on the table. North Korea needs to make a decision.”

South Korea’s chief negotiator Chun Young-woo said, “The North knows the extent to which we can provide for it.”

Hill met the head of the North Korean delegation, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Kwan, on Sunday night and set the maximum amount of heavy oil that the U.S. and the other four nations can offer.

On Sunday, negotiators from the six nations held a series of bilateral and multilateral talks at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse to reach an agreement, A South Korean official said, “The talks are expected to continue because discussions are ongoing in depth in a more serious mood.”

gun43@donga.com