For the first time in over a year, the six nation talks will resume with North Korea. Representatives from the United States, North Korea, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea meet in Beijing on Monday.
Head Chinese delegate Wu Dawei formally declared the talks open at a Chinese state guesthouse in Beijing, calling on envoys to discuss implementation of a September 2005 agreement in which the North pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid.
"After hearing each country's opening speech, especially North Korea's opening speech, we will be able to tell where the six-party talks will go," South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo told reporters Monday before the talks.
North Korea agreed to return to the six-nation negotiations just weeks after its Oct. 9 nuclear test, saying it wanted to discuss U.S. financial restrictions against a Macau bank where the regime held accounts.
That issue will be addressed in separate U.S.-North Korean meetings, but they were delayed until Tuesday because the North Korean delegates responsible for those talks had yet to arrive, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
The arms talks have been plagued by delays and discord since they began in August 2003.
The U.S. has sought to line up support against Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions by enlisting its neighbors — including China, Japan, Russia and South Korea — in the discussions.
The North exploited divisions among the U.S. and its partners in an effort to change the subject and buy time to develop its atomic arsenal.
It remains to be seen if these talks lead anywhere, of course. The fact that Russia announced that it will sell nuclear fuel to Iran makes it somewhat iffy for them to actually be of any real help with North Korea.
