“…China and North Korea pledged Monday to work together to kick-start stalled six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear program, China’s state news agency said…”

Source: AP

China and North Korea pledged Monday to work together to kick-start stalled six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear program, China’s state news agency said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told Pak Ui Chun, his North Korean counterpart, that “it was in everyone’s interest” to implement the next phase of talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S., the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Speaking at Monday meetings in Beijing, Pak said North Korea was willing to work with the appropriate parties to fulfill its obligations, Xinhua said.

Last year, North Korea agreed to begin disabling its nuclear facilities but missed a year-end deadline to provide a complete list of its nuclear programs, according to the United States.

Washington recently accused North Korea of trying to help Syria build a nuclear reactor. Evidence supporting the allegations, including purported photos of the Syrian reactor under construction that matched North Korean designs, was released by U.S. officials last month.

However, the top American envoy to South Korea said in Seoul that he did not expect the revelations to affect the disarmament negotiations because North Korea’s alleged cooperation with Syria has been an issue in the nuclear talks for months.

“It has already become a complicating factor,” Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said Monday. He said the North Koreans were given some of the information weeks ago.

U.S. diplomats visited North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, last week seeking a breakthrough in the impasse over the nuclear declaration.

Vershbow said the U.S.-North Korean meetings had been “productive” and the results were being assessed in Washington, but he declined to say when the wider six-nation negotiations might resume.