Tokyo, Sep 17 (RIA Novosti) The next round of six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme scheduled on Sep 19 could be postponed until October, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said Monday.
The upcoming talks in Beijing, involving China, Japan, Russia, the US and the two Koreas are expected to finalise a timeline for the second stage of the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, which envisions North Korea shutting down all its nuclear facilities.
The Japanese agency cited sources in the South Korean government as saying that Pyongyang had requested that host China postpone the negotiations until the conclusion of the second summit meeting between the two Koreas, scheduled for Oct 2-4.
Following more than three years of negotiations after Pyongyang withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003 and conducted a nuclear bomb test, North Korea formally agreed this February to permanently disable all its nuclear facilities and provide a full account of its nuclear weapon activities.
In exchange for North Korea’s denuclearisation and information on all its nuclear programmes, the reclusive state will receive 950,000 tonnes of fuel oil for its thermal power-generating plants in addition to the 50,000 tonnes already delivered by South Korea for the closure of its only operational nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.