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Beijing (AFP): China called Thursday for all sides involved in a pact reached here this week on phasing out North Korea's nuclear programme to immediately begin work on implementing the deal. Six-nation talks, which began in 2003, finally resulted in an agreement on Tuesday which saw North Korea commit to begin closing nuclear facilities in return for aid and diplomatic concessions.
“This is an important step forward and marks a substantive step toward the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
“We urge all sides to immediately begin the initial actions and implement their commitments.”
According to the agreement between China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia, five working groups would be set up within the next 30 days to begin the denuclearisation process, Jiang said.
China would head a working group to oversee the shutdown of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility and the return of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, she said.
South Korea would chair another working group to supply North Korea with a first delivery of 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil, aid and other economic assistance in return, she said.
Under the accord, North Korea would eventually receive one million tonnes of fuel oil if it permanently disabled Yongbyon and other key nuclear facilities.
Jiang said Russia would be in charge of a third working group on establishing a Northeast Asia security mechanism between the six countries.
The other two working groups, concerning the normalisation of diplomatic ties between North Korea and the United States, and North Korea and Japan, would be organised between officials of those nations, she added.
“As far as the specifics of the working groups, the time and places of the meetings, this will be decided through the consultations of all sides,” Jiang said.
