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Seoul wants written accord from NKorea nuclear talksPosted: 31 January 2007 1308 hrs


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> ">South Korea's Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon




SEOUL: South Korea has said it wants a binding written agreement to emerge from next week's six-nation talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon said the new round, which starts in Beijing on February 8, should produce a document that sets out firm steps toward a nuclear-free North Korea. Song said the round will aim to reach agreement on implementing a landmark September 2005 pact, under which the reclusive communist state agreed to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for security guarantees, economic aid and diplomatic recognition. "An agreement does not come in words. Lots of words have been exchanged among parties. I expect them to turn into a joint document," he told a weekly news briefing. The United States said on Tuesday it was hopeful that "substantial progress" can be made when the talks, grouping the United States, the two Koreas, China, Russia and Japan, resume. The 2005 deal went nowhere after North Korea in November that year walked away from the forum in protest at US sanctions on Banco Delta Asia (BDA), a Macau-based bank accused of money-laundering for the regime in Pyongyang. After conducting its first nuclear test on October 9 last year the North returned to the six-party talks in December. But it made it clear it would not discuss nuclear issues unless there was progress on the banking row. US and North Korean officials began a second round of discussions on the banking curbs on Tuesday in Beijing. "The BDA issue has so far had a negative impact on the six-party talks. I am looking forward to the settlement of the issue," Song said. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Sunday that North Korea would be told during the next round to dismantle its nuclear facilities within months. The facilities subject to the shutdown include a five-megawatt reactor, a fuel reprocessing plant, a radiochemical lab and two reactors of 50 megawatts and 200 megawatts now under construction, it said. - AFP/so