NYT/AP: Talks Resume on N. Korea Nuclear Program

[DeepModem Mom]

Talks Resume on N. Korea Nuclear Program
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 13, 2005
Filed at 9:20 a.m. ET


BEIJING (AP) -- Negotiations aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program resumed Tuesday after a monthlong recess, but prospects for progress were uncertain as Pyongyang remained insistent on its right to use civilian atomic technology.

Envoys from China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas gathered at a state guesthouse in Beijing to continue the fourth round of talks on the issue since 2003.

Tuesday's session, which focused on procedural issues, was held in a ''friendly atmosphere featuring mutual respect,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

But Liu acknowledged the impasse over the North's demand to keep its civilian nuclear program.

''There is a major difference between the parties, that is the DPRK's (North Korea's) peaceful use of nuclear energy,'' Liu said, using the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea....


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Koreas-Nuclear.html