First steps toward N.Korea nuclear disarmament almost agreed

BEIJING, February 9 (RIA Novosti) - The six negotiating parties in Beijing have nearly coordinated the first steps toward North Korea's disarmament, and only a few details remain to be finalized, the U.S. envoy at the talks said Friday.

After the second day of resumed negotiations, Christopher Hill said five working groups will be established to resolve the remaining issues.

China presented a draft plan of initial steps for North Korea's nuclear disarmament on Thursday, when the six-nation nuclear talks resumed in Beijing amid hopes for progress toward implementing a September 2005 agreement in which Pyongyang committed itself to halting its nuclear activities in exchange for economic and security incentives.

The plan proposes closing and sealing North Korean nuclear facilities, including a five-megawatt reactor at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, and the provision of alternative energy sources and economic aid to the impoverished North by the other parties to the talks.

The plan also envisions setting up five working groups to oversee denuclearization efforts on the Korean Peninsula, energy supplies to North Korea, cooperation in the security sphere in Northeast Asia, and relations between North Korea and the United States and Japan.

Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, welcomed the plan earlier in the day, but said Pyongyang should take steps to improve relations with Tokyo.

Japan has repeatedly said it will not provide aid to North Korea - even if Pyongyang gives up its nuclear ambitions - until the secretive regime returns Japanese nationals abducted by its security services in the nineteen seventies and eighties.

The North declined to discuss the issue at the talks, and accused Tokyo of attempts to thwart the negotiations.

Japan "is intentionally impeding the six-nation talks by raising a problem that is not related to the main topic of discussions - the nuclear problem," North Korea's Central Telegraphic Agency reported Friday.

In September 2005, North Korea signed a "joint statement" committing itself to abandoning its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees. But Pyongyang boycotted the talks two months later following Washington's financial sanctions. Since then, the North has conducted its first nuclear test and tested ballistic missiles.