The chief US negotiator to the six-party nuclear talks said last night
that the US side felt it "worth continuing" the discussion, after the six
parties agreed the talks to extend to Friday.
"We feel it is worth continuing this discussions," Assistant U.S. Secretary
of State Christopher Hill told reporters at the hotel, adding the U.S. side are
"encouraged about the progress and are pleased to stay a couple of days".
He said head of the delegation's meeting was held on Wednesday, at which all
the parties agreed to extend for another two days through Friday night.
Formally known as the second phase of the fifth round since 2003, the fresh
talks involved China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the
United States, the Republic of Korea,Japan and Russia, with focus on the
implementation of the joint statement in September 2005.
Under the joint statement, the DPRK agreed to abandon its nuclear program in
exchange for economic aid and security guarantees.
Hill confirmed that he had informal meetings with his DPRK's counterpart
Wednesday and that the two sides may meet again Thursday.
"We have a couple of bilateral talks, informal meetings with the DPRK.I also
talked with Kim Kye Gwan,"said Hill.
He said the discussions were "frankly very difficult", as they were
discussing actual development on the ground and "there was a lot of give and
take, a lot of questions".
"We managed to work through some of the issues, but whether we can start
implementing the agreement this weekend...time will tell." Hill said.
