Modest progress in talks; North says solution impossible without.

(From The Korea Herald)

By Seo Hyun-jin Korea Herald correspondent BEIJING - Crucial talks here last week on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions made modest progress but failed to bridge the big divide on major issues concerning the 16-month tension. Wrapping up their four-day negotiations Saturday, the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia adopted a chairman's statement in which they agreed to set up a working group for detailed discussions iand hold the next talks before the end of June. The countries also expressed their commitment to a nuclear-weapons- free Korean Peninsula and willingness to coexist peacefully. Experts and officials said the second round of six-party talks resulted in a meaningful step - adoption of the first document on the issue - but predicted a long and bumpy road, with Pyongyang and Washington showing few signs of compromise. The first round in August ended with a chairman's verbal summary. Critics say the document provides no blueprint for settling key disputes, including North Korea's nuclear dismantlement and corresponding measures by the United States as well as Pyongyang's secret uranium-based nuclear weapons program. "The document does not contain any substantial clue for solving the nuclear issue, but it gained some achievement on the part of the dialogue mechanism," said Prof. Kim Keun-sik at Kyungnam University. "Differences, even serious differences, still exist," Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said as he closed the multilateral talks. The main reason for divisions is the extreme lack of trust between North Korea and the United States, said Chinese chief negotiator Wang Yi. Pyongyang proposed abandoning nuclear weapons here last week but wanted to retain its nuclear capability for nonmilitary ...