Pyongyang and Washington began their first official contact since the death of Kim Jong-il, as senior diplomats from the two countries met in Beijing yesterday to discuss North Korea's nuclear activities.
After meeting on denuclearization, non-proliferation and humanitarian aid with North Korea's negotiator Kim Kye-gwan, Glyn Davies, coordinator for US policy on North Korea, marked the talks as serious and substantive.
"We covered a number of issues," AFP quoted Davies as saying, since "we are in mid-talks. I expect we will wrap up tomorrow (Friday)."
China yesterday supported the efforts of the US and North Korea for resuming the talks, as Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that "China has always believed that it is in accordance with the interests of all parties to resume the Six-Party Talks at an early date and implement the September 19 joint statement," according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Relevant parties should continue to follow the direction and objectives of the six-party talks and create conditions for the early resumption of the six-party talks, Hong said.
The process of negotiating between the two sides, in which the US is demanding North Korea end its nuclear activities, halted after the unexpected passing of Kim Jong-il.
It is the third round of negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, which began last year, aiming to break a deadlock for the relations between the two Koreas and for an early resumption of the Six-Party Talks.
"The resumption of contact is hard for achieving substantial results, because Pyongyang willl not meet the requirements set by the US on dismantling its nuclear activities," Jeung Young-tae, director of the North Korea Studies Center at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told the Global Times.
However, it is a good sign that Pyongyang would like to take a step on contributing to the early resumption of the Six-Party Talks, he said.
Wang Junsheng, a Korean affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, agreed with Jeung, saying that the process of the Talks depends on the development of US-North Korea negotiations, and the improvement of relations between the two Koreas.
During the ongoing dialogue, Washington is trying to clear Pyongyang's attitude toward US demands on ending nuclear activities, since North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un just took over power at the end of last year, Wang said.
He said the US also wants to see if North Korea is abiding by its 2005 agreement on abandoning nuclear activities in exchange for food aid and security guarantees, adding the bilateral negotiations showed their efforts on pushing forward the Six-Party Talks.
Since Kim Jong-il died in December, the friction between the two Koreas has been growing. North Korea has announced it would no longer deal with the South, and has repeatedly denounced the "inhuman" response by Seoul following Kim Jong-il's death.
Yesterday, South Korea's unification ministry authorized two charitable groups to send medical instruments and drugs worth about $70,000 to the western provinces of North Korea, AFP reported.
South Korea is trying to ease tensions, because the US doesn't want to see any military clash between the two, which would not be consistent with US interests in the region, Wang said.
Agencies contributed to this story
After meeting on denuclearization, non-proliferation and humanitarian aid with North Korea's negotiator Kim Kye-gwan, Glyn Davies, coordinator for US policy on North Korea, marked the talks as serious and substantive.
"We covered a number of issues," AFP quoted Davies as saying, since "we are in mid-talks. I expect we will wrap up tomorrow (Friday)."
China yesterday supported the efforts of the US and North Korea for resuming the talks, as Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that "China has always believed that it is in accordance with the interests of all parties to resume the Six-Party Talks at an early date and implement the September 19 joint statement," according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Relevant parties should continue to follow the direction and objectives of the six-party talks and create conditions for the early resumption of the six-party talks, Hong said.
The process of negotiating between the two sides, in which the US is demanding North Korea end its nuclear activities, halted after the unexpected passing of Kim Jong-il.
It is the third round of negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, which began last year, aiming to break a deadlock for the relations between the two Koreas and for an early resumption of the Six-Party Talks.
"The resumption of contact is hard for achieving substantial results, because Pyongyang willl not meet the requirements set by the US on dismantling its nuclear activities," Jeung Young-tae, director of the North Korea Studies Center at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told the Global Times.
However, it is a good sign that Pyongyang would like to take a step on contributing to the early resumption of the Six-Party Talks, he said.
Wang Junsheng, a Korean affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, agreed with Jeung, saying that the process of the Talks depends on the development of US-North Korea negotiations, and the improvement of relations between the two Koreas.
During the ongoing dialogue, Washington is trying to clear Pyongyang's attitude toward US demands on ending nuclear activities, since North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un just took over power at the end of last year, Wang said.
He said the US also wants to see if North Korea is abiding by its 2005 agreement on abandoning nuclear activities in exchange for food aid and security guarantees, adding the bilateral negotiations showed their efforts on pushing forward the Six-Party Talks.
Since Kim Jong-il died in December, the friction between the two Koreas has been growing. North Korea has announced it would no longer deal with the South, and has repeatedly denounced the "inhuman" response by Seoul following Kim Jong-il's death.
Yesterday, South Korea's unification ministry authorized two charitable groups to send medical instruments and drugs worth about $70,000 to the western provinces of North Korea, AFP reported.
South Korea is trying to ease tensions, because the US doesn't want to see any military clash between the two, which would not be consistent with US interests in the region, Wang said.
Agencies contributed to this story
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