The next meeting of the six- party talks over nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsular will be held on Dec. 8 in Beijing, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday, according to news agencies.
The secretary of state made the announcement aboard Air Force One as she and U.S. President George W. Bush flew back from Peru's capital of Lima, where the president took part in the 16th Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
The meeting of the six-party talks is aimed at getting an agreement on verification of nuclear disarmament of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to Rice, "The goal is to get agreement ... on North Korea's nuclear disarmament."
"The North Koreans took more than 30 years to get (a nuclear program). ... I think it might take more than a couple to unravel it," said Rice, hinting that the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsular could not be solved easily.
The DPRK agreed in 2007 in talks with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia to disable its Yongbyon nuclear facilities in exchange for economic aid and political concessions, including its removal from the U.S. terrorism list.
After U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill paid a three-day visit to Pyongyang in early October and struck a verification deal with the DPRK to save the stalled six-party talks, the Bush administration dropped the country from the terrorism blacklist on Oct. 11.
(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2008)
