Optimism ahead of nuke talks

2007-02-05 12:25

Seoul - North Korea heads into talks with the region's main powers this week with signs the impoverished state may be ready to agree to an initial deal over demands it stop building a nuclear arsenal in exchange for aid.

But diplomats and analysts say there is no chance the North will agree to completely give up its atomic weaponry at the six-way talks with the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States which resume on Thursday in Beijing.

"North Korea is feeling the heat," said Chun Bong-geun, a senior researcher at South Korea's institute of foreign affairs and national security. "I don't think it will be a huge deal. It'll be something small."

That should be enough, he said, for the South Korean government to resume crucial shipments of food and fertiliser to the reclusive North, stopped after Pyongyang's defied international warnings and test fired missiles last July.

The international community later imposed sanctions after North Korea's first nuclear test last October.

Conditions

The main focus of the latest round of talks is likely to be on winning agreement from North Korea to at least shut down its Yongbyon nuclear plant - the source of fissile material for its nuclear weapons programme.

A pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan, the Chosun Sinbo, said the North had told the other parties to the talks it was ready to shut down its nuclear reactor and accept the return of international nuclear inspectors, thrown out more than four years ago.

In return, it wanted supplies of alternative energy until light-water reactors - which do not produce material that can easily be turned into nuclear warheads - can be built in the country which is plagued by power shortages.

- Reuters