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North Korea wants talks to focus on lifting sanctions

P. S. Suryanarayana

America willing to consider the demand

SINGAPORE: North Korea on Wednesday announced its decision to return to the negotiation table and address the concerns of major powers over its recent nuclear weapon test and related matters.

The statement by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) follows China's announcement on Tuesday that the six-party talks on the de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula would be reconvened "soon."

The six parties are the DPRK, the U.S., China as the host, South Korea, Japan, and Russia. China fashioned this diplomatic breakthrough at a trilateral meeting involving the U.S. and the DPRK, in Beijing on Tuesday.

Without specifying that the "premise" was a precondition for the resumption of the six-party talks, stalled for about a year now, North Korea said, "bilateral and multilateral contacts [involving China and the U.S.] took place in Beijing on October 31, with the main emphasis [being] on the contact between the DPRK and the U.S."

The sanctions referred to in the statement are those imposed by Washington following its assessment that the DPRK was indulging in the counterfeiting of U.S. dollars and related money laundering activities through a Macau-based bank. The DPRK had cited these sanctions, not to be confused with the latest U.N. measures against it, to keep away from the six-party talks.

The U.S. is now willing to discuss its own sanctions under a suitable mechanism, such as a working group, within the overall six-party framework. Meanwhile, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun nominated his Chief Security Secretary Song Min-soon as the country's new Foreign Minister.

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