Beijing:  The six nations involved in talks here aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programme have agreed to extend their negotiations until tomorrow (Dec 22 ,206)

The envoys had originally planned to meet only through Thursday before breaking for Monday's Christmas holiday, but agreed to the extension Wednesday evening after the US offered a four-stage proposal that detailed incentives it would offer to North Korea in return for Pyongyang ending its nuclear programmes and opening them to inspections.
 

"It can be said that we have entered a substantial negotiation stage as we are discussing the fundamental aspects of the problem and the priorities set by each party," said Chun Yung Woo, South Korea's chief negotiator.

Chun added, however, that the extension of the talks did not mean that the diplomats from the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia had seen progress yet and more negotiations were needed, The Korea Herald reported.

"We feel it is worth continuing these discussions," Christopher Hill, the top US envoy, said yesterday (Dec 20,2006).

While the talks were frankly very difficult, his delegation was encouraged about the progress and are pleased to stay a couple of days," he said.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack described the talks as being in an exploratory stage.

The US proposal was at the centre of the fourth day of the talks Thursday. It offered North Korea security guarantees first in return for Pyongyang shutting down its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor. In later stages, North Korea would receive food, energy and other economic aid in return for ending the other parts of its nuclear programme and allowing UN inspectors to monitor its work.

The proposal was seen as a possible breakthrough in the slow-moving talks, which have been going on for more than three years. They were stalled for 13 months before resuming Monday.

The little progress achieved has largely been the result of US-North Korean antagonism. Pyongyang has accused Washington of conducting a"hostile" policy aimed at eventually toppling the regime of Kim Jong Il while the US has accused North Korea of counterfeiting US dollars, money laundering and weapons dealing.

Those charges led Washington to impose financial sanctions on Pyongyang in the autumn last year, and the six-party nuclear talks ground to a halt.

New impetus was given to the talks after North Korea conducted seven missile launches in July and its first nuclear test in October.

As the nuclear talks were to resume, Washington agreed to discuss its financial sanctions in a separate working group on the sidelines of the Beijing talks.

"Thursday's six-party meetings began with bilateral talks," a Chinese spokesman said.