China: The US, China and North Korea will hold talks next week on the North's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions, US and South Korean officials said yesterday, raising hopes of a way out of the six-month-old crisis.
The prospect of an easing of tensions propelled South Korean shares to a 12-week closing high and was welcomed by Seoul and Tokyo - even though those two close US allies will not take part in the meeting in the Chinese capital.
But analysts said it was early days in the arduous process of dealing with communist North Korea, whose reputation as a no-holds-barred negotiator stretches back to the Korean War.
"I don't think anyone is betting on an easy time," said a western diplomat in Seoul. The crisis erupted last October when Washington said the North had admitted to US envoy, Mr James Kelly, that it had a covert nuclear weapons programme. Pyongyang denied making such an admission.
Last night, the White House indicated it did not expect rapid progress at the talks. "You should look at these as initial discussions. We do not expect an immediate breakthrough but we are looking for progress," said Sean McCormack, spokesman for the National Security Council.
North Korea has accused Washington of pressing for the UN Security Council to take up the nuclear issue as a "prelude for war" following the US-led invasion of Iraq.
The relatively quick US-led victory over Iraq appears to have played an important role in prompting North Korea to retreat from its insistence on bilateral talks with Washington, although South Korea's foreign minister said Pyongyang's main ally, China, helped bring about a compromise on the talks format. "We expect multilateral talks with North Korea to take place in Beijing next week," said a US official in Seoul.
South Korean Foreign Minister, Mr Yoon Young-kwan, said Seoul intended to play a central role in multilateral diplomacy. In the face of public dismay at South Korea's exclusion, Mr Yoon said Seoul "chose the safer of two options" - oppose the trilateral arrangement and risk scuppering talks or support three-way dialogue on condition of future participation.
The UN Human Rights Commission has sharply criticised "systemic, widespread and grave" human rights violations in North Korea.The Geneva-based assembly adopted a US/EU resolution which expressed "deep concern" at reports of executions of political prisoners and torture. - (Reuters)