BEIJING, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Negotiators at the six-party talks in Beijing Monday were considering extending the talks one more day in a final bid to keep diplomatic efforts from stalling over the issue of energy aid in exchange for North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons.
After a fifth day of intense bilateral and multilateral meetings in the Chinese capital, Washington and Pyongyang appeared to still be at an impasse on the amount of energy assistance to be provided to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as well as the initial steps that country will take to implement the six-party statement signed in September 2005.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill broke his silence on Sunday about which topic was the sticking point in the talks, telling reporters he had spent the last several days "discussing energy issues."
"We've worked very hard and looked for all kinds of ways to move this process forward but this is not about energy, it's about denuclearization and the problem of weapons of mass destruction on the Korean peninsula," Hill said.
Calling WMD development "the root cause of their problem and isolation," Hill stated other parties were willing to offer North Korea some energy aid, but "not as a substitute for denuclearization."
Asked if Japanese unwillingness to underwrite energy costs was a handicap in the talks Hill replied, "the problem is not Japan, the problem is the DPRK; the problem is the DPRK has to make a decision about denuclearization."
Hill said North Korea "had a number of self-described reasons for why they can't participate in the implementation of the statement." He said the participants in the talks "have really tried to work with them to get to a position where they were prepared to deal with the issue at hand."
The U.S. envoy said he had had "lengthy and frank discussions" Sunday evening with Kim Kye-gwan, head of the North Korean delegation, laying out what the United States was prepared to do, and what it was not prepared to do.
"I gave him some things to think about," Hill said. "It's up to the DPRK now to discuss this with Pyongyang, and then we'll see if something can be done tomorrow."
At a meeting with the heads of the delegations yesterday China announced Monday would be the final day for the current round of talks.
Observers said the negotiations, involving the U.S., the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and host nation China, were at a critical juncture. Little progress has been made since they began in August 2003.
"I think we have a real problem if we can't reach an agreement. I'm not going to foretell the future, but it would be a real problem. The diplomatic process will be dealt a significant setback," Hill told reporters Sunday.
"There's a point in negotiation where you set a deadline and you lay out your position and you hope that the other side is interested in cutting a deal. But at the end of the day we cannot be more concerned about the future of the DPRK than the DPRK is," Hill said. "It's a little country in great need of assistance, and frankly, great need of some friends."
