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US, N. Korean and Chinese Negotiators Meet in Beijing
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&c=711468&l=1009&ctl=1515130:A6F02AD83191E160C1E50005CF66280F9574F7DCC14957C0 None of
governments involved in discussions have released details about
Wednesday's meetings Officials from the United States, North Korea and
China have held a second day of talks in Beijing on resuming
negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons
program.  From the Chinese capital, Roger Wilkison reports it is
unclear if there has been any progress. 

None of the governments involved in the discussions have released
details about Wednesday's meetings.

In a terse statement on their foreign ministry's website, the Chinese
hosts of what are being billed as preparatory talks would only say the
officials held a frank and deep exchange of views, and agreed to
strive for progress.







Top American nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill speaks to the media
after arriving at Beijing airport Monday 27 Nov. 2006Chinese Vice
Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
Christopher Hill and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan
are supposed to lay the foundation for re-launching the negotiations,
which have been stalled for more than a year. The Chinese statement
said the three men had held both bilateral and trilateral discussions.

North Korea began boycotting the six-party negotiations after the
United States imposed financial sanctions on Pyongyang.  Re-starting
the talks has been given a new urgency following North Korea's nuclear
test last month.

South Korea's Yonhap wire service and Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted
sources at the talks as saying Kim set preconditions for dismantling
his country's nuclear weapons program: that the United States lift its
restrictions on some of North Korea's overseas bank accounts, and
bring about an end to the United Nations sanctions imposed on
Pyongyang after the nuclear test.

South Korea and Japan, as well as Russia, are also members of the
six-party negotiations.

Peter Beck, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group,
says such demands reduce the chances of the talks resuming.

"…The signals that North Korea is sending is that…they're really not
interested in compromising, that they want everything and then they'll
talk about giving up their programs, and that's unfortunately going to
be a non-starter, so it's hard to be optimistic," Beck says.

It is unclear whether there will be a third day of meetings in
Beijing.  Hill, who was due to fly to Seoul on Wednesday, is spending
the night in the Chinese capital.

The United States insists North Korea should, without conditions,
abide by the agreement in principle it made at last year's talks, to
abandon all nuclear weapons in exchange for political, economic and
security incentives.

Beck, however, says now that the North is a nuclear power, it might
hold out for additional concessions.

"Given what they've been saying publicly and what they've been telling
their own people, they're quite pleased and proud to be a nuclear
power, and they're not going to give that up easily unless they get a
lot more in return than they were being offered in the past," Beck
says.

Hill assured Kim last month that Washington will address North Korea's
concerns about the financial restrictions once the talks resume. 


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