• Tools:
• Save |
• Print |
• E-mail |
• Most Popular |

Date set for North Korea talks

By CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott

Adjust font size:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Six-party talks aimed at persuading North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program will take place December 16 in Beijing, senior administration officials told CNN Friday.

An announcement from the Chinese government on the talks is expected over the weekend, the officials said.

Christopher Hill, the U.S. envoy to the talks, has made several trips to China, where he met with his counterparts, including the North Koreans, to prepare for the talks. The United States has said it wants a successful round of discussions and not just talk.

Between the talks with the North Koreans and discussions with the Chinese, the United States feels there is a "better than fair chance we can move the process along in this round," one of the senior officials said. However, the official noted, the upcoming round is not the last round.

Pyongyang walked away from the negotiating table nearly a year ago.

At the last round of talks in September 2005, North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States produced an agreement in which North Korea committed to abandoning its nuclear program. In exchange, the other nations said they were prepared to offer political and economic incentives and security guarantees to the reclusive north.

In order for this round of talks to be successful, officials said the United States wants North Korea to move beyond the commitment it made in the joint statement to abandon its nuclear program and commit to specific action.

North Korea agreed last month to return to the talks, after seven hours of meetings in Beijing with China and the United States. Pyongyang hopes to use the talks to address its concerns about U.S. economic sanctions.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Friday with Igor Ivanov, secretary of the Russian Security Council, and North Korea was one of the topics, McCormack said.

U.N. Resolution 1718, unanimously passed by the council in response to North Korea's surprise underground nuclear test on October 9, prohibits trade with North Korea of any materials or weapons that could be used by its ballistic missile and weapons programs.

The sanctions also call for inspections of all cargo leaving and arriving in the country.

Also Friday, President Bush signed a Presidential Determination saying that North Korea indeed sent up a nuclear device in its test of October 9, and adding more sanctions against North Korea, on top of those already in place from the United Nations.

A senior administration official told CNN the additional sanctions are not large and do not translate to a major impact on Pyongyang, although they do extend the existing sanctions.

CNN's Ed Henry contributed to this report.

Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.

---

• 900 children buried in China quake
• 'Sex and the City' mania hits London
• New toxic fume suicides hit Japan
• Obama gets another superdelegate
• Bush: Jenna's wedding spectacular

• Irish PM to quit over payments scandal
• NATO chief: Afghan troop increase likely
• Militants hunted as calm retuns to Basra
• Pressure on Bush to skip Olympics
• BA sending misplaced T5 baggage to Milan

• Recruiting suicide bombers (2:50)
• London was lucky (2:36)
• Cars in London rigged as bombs (3:48)
• Second explosives-packed car foun (2:32)
• Soviet culture returns (3:47)