By Bernama,
Moscow : Consultations on the North Korean nuclear issue will continue in Moscow on Friday, Russian news agency, Itar-Tass, reported.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who arrives from Beijing, will meet Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin.
“Russia always advocated the nuclear-free status of the Korean Peninsula. The most convenient format for holding talks on this problem has been the six-party talks, where Russia plays an important role,” Borodavkin said.
Informed sources told ITAR-TASS that Hill is going to inform the Russian side about results of the talks in the Chinese capital, where he met the chief negotiator at the six party talks.
The US hopes for a “certain progress” in the matter of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Hill said. The diplomat voiced the hope that a timetable of implementing the earlier reached accords could be determined.
The main topic of his meetings in Moscow will be possible dates of the resumption of the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue.
The sources told ITAR-TASS that “another round can be held in June, but specific dates have not be determined yet”.
“Everything depends on a time of Pyongyang’s turning over to the Chinese side a declaration on all nuclear programmes of North Korea. In any case the pause related to debates over denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is ending. The participants in the talks are holding consultations in bilateral and trilateral formats with the aim of approaching the six-party one,” they said.
“American specialists are currently processing data on operation of the nuclear reactor in Yongbyon and information about plutonium produced by North Korea,” the experts said.
Pyongyang turned over 18,000 documents a few weeks ago.
At the same time, the US is considering a possibility of excluding North Korea from a list of terrorism-sponsoring countries.
Russia, the US, China, North Korea, South Korea and Japan will also discuss the mothballing of the reactor in Yongbyon.