U.S. says six-party talks expected to resume this month

The United States said on Friday that the six-party talks aimed at solving the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is expected to resume next month.

"What I said is it is possible that they could resume as early as this month," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing, although he did not provide a firm date.

"What we really want to do is translate any will or desire on the part of the members of the six-party talks into concrete action: How do you actually go about implementing that September 2005 statement? What are the commitments? What are the specific things that they're going to do to get to a denuclearized Korean Peninsula?" McCormack said.

The six-party talks, involving the United States, the DPRK, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan, are aimed at persuading DPRK to abandon its nuclear programs.

During the round of six-party talks in September 2005, the DPRK signed a statement agreeing to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic aid and security guarantees from the United States and other countries. However, DPRK refused to return to the talks as a result of U.S. financial sanctions.

Under pressure, DPRK returned to the talks in December held in Beijing. However, the talks failed to make progress.

Source: Xinhua