The six-party talks on the Korean Peninsular
nuclear issue seemed stuck in the mud on Tuesday as the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) continued to refuse to attend the
talks until it fully receives the funds currently frozen at a Macao
bank.
A meeting for the heads of all the delegations set for Tuesday
afternoon was cancelled due to the boycott, said Russian
representative Alexander Losyukov Tuesday evening after returning
to his hotel.
"The DPRK said its frozen funds at Banco Delta Asia (BDA) have
still not been transferred into the Bank of China in Beijing,"
Losyukov said.
This inopportune stalemate came only a day after the U.S. Deputy
Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser announced that the US
and the DPRK had resolved the issue of frozen funds, adding that
the US$25 million frozen funds would be transferred to a DPRK
account at the Bank of China.
Speaking at a press briefing Tuesday afternoon, Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that the ongoing six-party
talks had started well on Monday, now harboring positive conditions
for further progress.
The current six-party talks, regrouping China, the DPRK, the
United States, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan and Russia, seek
to discuss specific steps for the initial phase of the Feb. 13
deal, which if implemented would see the DPRK close its Yongbyon
nuclear facility and receive energy aid from the international
community.
Chief negotiators of the DPRK and the United States met
face-to-face on Tuesday with senior US envoy Christopher Hill
announcing that his talks with DPRK counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan had
lasted about an hour and set out "a list of issues".
An anonymous ROK source revealed on Tuesday evening that Kim and
Hill spoke on the need of solving the DPRK-related frozen fund
obstacle and agreed it could be sorted out as early as Wednesday
morning.
ROK's senior diplomat Lim Sung Nam further had cause for
optimism Tuesday night, saying that despite the issue's complexity,
the frozen funds problem could soon be satisfactorily brought to a
close.
"In conclusion, there was no progress today (Tuesday)," lamented
top Japanese negotiator Kenichiro Sasae on Tuesday afternoon while
Hill looked forward to a plenary meeting on Wednesday, hoping it
would focus on "the meaning of the disablement, how to disable and
what to disable."
(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2007)