DENUCLEARIZATION Negotiators struggling
U.S. diplomat: Differences with North Korea 'difficult but not insurmountable.'
WASHINGTON POST
BEIJING -- Diplomats at deadlocked talks on North Korean denuclearization decided Sunday to soldier on for another day, searching for agreement on a compromise proposed by China to bridge differences between the United States and North Korea.
Some negotiators from the six nations involved -- China, the United States, North and South Korea, Japan and Russia -- appeared to be awaiting further instructions from their governments, diplomats suggested. Russia and South Korea have signaled approval of the Chinese proposal, and Japan in the past has aligned its position with Washington. The United States and North Korea, the main antagonists during more than two years of nuclear talks, were still insisting on changes and clarifications.
What was tried
The Chinese foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, spoke on the telephone with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice overnight, the official New China News Agency reported, in what was believed to be an effort to solicit U.S. flexibility. Rice also conferred with other foreign ministers of the six nations represented here, according to Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific and chief U.S. negotiator.
Hill and the five other chief negotiators agreed to meet for what they hoped would be a final negotiating session this morning, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, with the outcome apparently still uncertain. "I can't say at this point how it's going to end up," Hill said, qualifying U.S. differences with North Korea as "difficult but not insurmountable."
Absent agreement, several diplomats suggested China, as sponsor of the talks, will call another recess.