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Six-nation talks on N. Korea held in fortnight - S. Korea source

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A South Korean government source said Thursday that another round of the six-nation talks aimed at resolving North Korea's nuclear issue could be held in two weeks, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.
TOKYO, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - A South Korean government source said Thursday that another round of the six-nation talks aimed at resolving North Korea's nuclear issue could be held in two weeks, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

The source, who declined to be identified, said there is a 60% possibility that the talks between North and South Korea, the United States, Russia, China, and Japan will take place on the week of September 17 and a 40% chance that the talks will be held the following week.

At all events, this must happen before October 2, the date of the South-North Korean summit, the spokesperson added.

Christopher Hill, Washington's chief nuclear envoy, earlier spoke of a similar time frame for the talks.

The previous round was held in July, which resulted in North Korea's closing down its nuclear facility at Yongbyon in exchange for 50,000 metric tons of fuel oil from South Korea for its thermal power plants under a deal reached in February.

The second phase will include North Korea providing information on all its nuclear programs, including uranium enrichment, and shutting down all remaining nuclear facilities. The country will eventually receive a total of 950,000 metric tons of fuel oil.

Five working groups operate as part of the six-nation talks on North Korea's denuclearization. Working group talks aimed at improving relations between Tokyo and Pyongyang were held September 5-6 in the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, but failed to reach a breakthrough.

Japan has maintained a moratorium on humanitarian aid to the secretive Communist state since 2004, over the issue of its Japanese nationals abducted in the 1970s and 1980s by North Korean intelligence services.

Pyongyang has acknowledged that it kidnapped at least 13 Japanese nationals. Five were eventually repatriated, while the remaining eight reportedly died. The released abductees said they were forced to train North Koreans to spy against Japan.

Japan has not accepted North Korean assertions that the matter is now closed, insisting that many more of its citizens remain unaccounted for.

Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2002, expelled IAEA inspectors, and last October conducted its first nuclear bomb test.

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