久久久无码人妻精品无码_6080YYY午夜理论片中无码_性无码专区_无码人妻品一区二区三区精99

US: N.Korea ready to restart nuke talks
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-03 14:08

BEIJING - Two US lawmakers who visited North Korea said Saturday that Pyongyang appears ready to return to disarmament talks as promised the week of Sept. 12, but still wants a nuclear reactor — a key sticking point.

Giant North Korean flag flies over the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. The United States, Japan and South Korea played down North Korea's test-firing of a short-range missile off its east coast, saying it was not related to Pyongyang's drive for nuclear weaponsNo caption. [AFP]

North Korean officials did not name a date, "but there was strong confidence that this would go forth on a timely basis, as has been indicated," said U.S. Rep. James Leach, R-Iowa, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. He traveled to the North this week with U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif.

North Korea said earlier it would return to six-nation talks the week of Sept. 12 following a postponement that it blamed on U.S.-South Korean military exercises and Washington's appointment of a human rights envoy to monitor the North. The talks also include South Korea, host China, Japan and Russia.

Leach said North Korean officials affirmed their desire for a light-water nuclear reactor as part of a peaceful nuclear program, an issue that deadlocked the last session of talks in August.

The North says it should be allowed to operate a peaceful nuclear program for power generation. But Washington has expressed skepticism that the North can be trusted with nuclear technology.

"Clearly the North Korean desire is for a light-water reactor, and the North Korean desire is to retain a peaceful nuclear program," Leach said at a news conference.

Leach and Lantos, the senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, said they had about 25 hours of meetings with North Korean officials during their five-day visit.

They met with Kim Gye Gwan, the chief North Korean nuclear envoy; Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun and other government and military officials, according to a statement released by their delegation.

Close

Hurricane Katrina batters US Pakistani, Indian officials meet for peace Death toll of Baghdad bridge stampede nears 1,000

Today's Top News     Top World News
War remembered for peace, future: President Hu         Gov't to relax telecoms charging         Bush: Katrina response 'not acceptable'         Beijing plans easing of credit curbs         China, UK expect big deals         Talim kills at least 13 in 2 provinces	Bush: Katrina response 'not acceptable'       Troops offer aid in anarchic New Orleans       Official: Saddam's trial to begin in October       New Orleans in anarchy with fights, rapes       Video: Al-Qaida behind London blasts       South Korea: North's nuke plans not an issue