China Says North Korea Talks To Resume Soon

(RFE/RL) January 30, 2007 -- China's Foreign Ministry says six-country talks on North Korea's nuclear program will resume on February 8 in Beijing.

The last round of six-way talks aimed at persuading North Korea to halt its nuclear program ended in December without agreement. The talks bring together North Korea, South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia, and China.

U.S. and North Korean delegates are meeting in Beijing today to discuss U.S. financial sanctions against Pyongyang, which North Korea insists on resolving before it addresses the nuclear issue.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said South Korea's top negotiator, Chun Yung-woo, will visit Moscow on January 31-February 1 to discuss the next round of the six-country talks.

Russia's top negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Losyukov, said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the upcoming talks.

(AFP, Reuters)

The Proliferation Threat

The Arak heavy-water plant in central Iran (Fars)

BENDING THE RULES. Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, told an RFE/RL-Radio Free Asia briefing on January 9 that the West is hamstrung in dealing with Iran and North Korea because of the way it has interpreted the international nonproliferation regime to benefit friendly countries like India and Japan.