Beijing – Negotiators at North Korea’s disarmament talks tentatively agreed to a draft plan Sunday on disabling the country’s nuclear facilities by year’s end, though they said the detailed blueprint required further consideration by their governments.
The four days of talks, which began on an optimistic note after North Korea agreed to a Dec. 31 deadline, were supposed to set specifics for the disabling, among other issues. Envoys described the talks as being in recess, with host China saying that they may reconvene Tuesday depending on what the six governments – China, the United States, Japan, Russia and North and South Korea – decide.
The draft “lays out an entire road map until the end of the year” for the North’s nuclear disarmament, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters before boarding a plane for New York.
He said the level of detail, which he declined to discuss, made it necessary for him to return to Washington for consultations.
South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo said the proposed blueprint set some deadlines for North Korea and for the other parties to meet.
The six countries are pushing forward a February agreement under which communist, impoverished North Korea agreed to declare and dismantle all its nuclear programs in return for 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or other assistance. Under that deal, the terms for the North’s declaration and the dismantling should have been agreed upon five months ago.
