Six-party talks: More efforts needed to reach consensus

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Source: CCTV.com | 09-29-2007 09:02

The second day of the latest round of six-party talks has ended. Negotiators pored over details on Friday to disable DPRK's nuclear program, but reported slow progress.

Differences remain among the six countries involved in the talks. The spokesman for the Chinese delegation summarized Friday's talks.

Chinese delegation spokesman Qing Gang said, "Today, delegation leaders talks, and bilateral talks took place. All parties exchanged views on the next task of implementing the Joint Declaration. So far, all parties have presented their concerns and there are certain differences among them. The next step will be to overcome all difficulties to narrow distances and strive for a consensus. "

South Korean said more time was needed.

South Korean nuclear envoy Chun YUng-Woo said, "The road toward dismantlement is steep and bumpy. There will be numerous, diverse opinions while drawing a roadmap. We cannot reach agreement in just a few hours of discussion."

US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said Friday's talks were useful, and that topics were discussed that had never been touched on before.

US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said, "This is the first time we've been talking about how to disable their programs ad how to get a complete declaration - so this is a new stage. It has not been done before. It was never done in the 1990's, throughout the agreed framework they never got to disablement so obviously we're taking some time at it."

Hill said that during bilateral talks, his DPRK counterpart Kim Kye Gwan raised the issue of the DPRK being removed from the US list of countries that allegedly support terrorism and which are therefore ineligible for various benefits.

During Saturday's talks, all parties are expected to discuss energy aid to the DPRK.

Editor:Zhang Ning