hankyoreh

North Korea's nuclear envoy met his Chinese counterpart here Friday to prepare for a fresh round of six-nation talks on the North's denuclearization slated for March 19, a report said.

According to China's Xinhua News Agency, Kim Kye-gwan briefed Wu Dawei on the outcome of his meeting with Christopher Hill, the U.S. chief envoy to the multilateral talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Kim Kye-gwan made a brief stopover at Tokyo's main international airport late Thursday en route to Beijing from New York, and stressed Pyongyang would be watching Washington's moves closely.

"The United States promised to resolve the problem of sanctions against our country within 30 days. If this promise is kept, then we will shut down our nuclear facilities in 60 days," said Kim, the chief negotiator to the disarmament talks, the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted him as saying.

As part of the Feb. 13 agreement adopted at the latest round of six-nation talks in Beijing, North Korea pledged to take first steps to shut down its main nuclear reactor and allow U.N.

inspectors back into the country within 60 days. In return, North Korea would receive aid equal to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil from South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan. North Korea can receive another 950,000 tons in aid if it disables the reactor irreversibly and declares that it has ended all nuclear programs. The cost of the aid will be equitably distributed among the other countries in the talks.

In September 2005, North Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear program in return for security guarantees and aid in the areas of energy, trade and investment.

Later that year, the U.S. cut off Macau-based Banco Delta Asia's access to the U.S. financial system, alleging that North Korea used the bank to engage in illicit financial activities such as money laundering and counterfeiting U.S. dollars.

In retaliation, North Korea boycotted the six-party talks until December 2006, suggesting that the U.S. should discuss ways to lift the sanctions outside of the six-party talks.

According to the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo, Kim said at the airport that the U.S. had agreed to remove North Korea from its list of terror-sponsoring countries. "It is an already agreed issue. Something will be solved slowly if you watch it." A statement issued at the end of the latest round of six-party talks calls for the U.S. to "begin the process" of removing North Korea from the list of terror-sponsoring states within the next two months, as well as lifting the economic restrictions on the North under the Trading with the Enemy Act.
Beijing, March 9 (Yonhap News)