The United States and its six-nation talks partners will demand that North Korea begins to dismantle its key nuclear facilities within months, a news report said Sunday. The dismantling will be the priority demand when the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia sit down with North Korea for six-way nuclear talks again early next month, Yonhap news agency said.

The new round of talks, a date for which has yet to be fixed, is widely expected to open in Beijing in the week of February 5, according to officials.

It aims to agree on how to implement the joint statement reached in September 2005, under which North Korean agreed to stop its nuclear facilities in return for security guarantees as well as economic and energy aid.

The North's 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, Yonhap said.

"We want the facilities to be shut down, not just frozen or suspended," an unnamed government source told Yonhap.

"What the United States, South Korea and other six-way talks partners — except North Korea — want is to make it difficult for Pyongyang to fire up the the nuclear facilities again."

"The idea is that North Korea should begin the dismantling (of its key facilities) within several months after agreeing on initial steps to take for the implementation" of the 2005 pact, another source said.

A rare one-on-one meeting earlier this month in Berlin between chief US negotiator, Christopher Hill, and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-Gwan, tackled the issue, according to Yonhap.

But North Korea reserved its final response, as it still stuck to its demand for US financial sanctions on the communist regime to be lifted first before substantive talks begin in the nuclear issue.

The six-way talks resumed in December after a 13-month hiatus. The talks took on urgency because North Korea tested its first atom bomb test on October 9, but the negotiations produced no tangible results.

earlier related report

Russia sees NKorea nuclear talks starting on February 5 or 8

Moscow (AFP) Jan 26 – Six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programme will probably resume on February 5 or 8, ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov as saying on Friday.

"Discussions are underway on the date of the resumption of six-party negotiations. They could start at the end of January or in the first half of February. The most realistic dates are February 5 or 8," Losyukov said.

"We also need to reach agreement on the specific issues that will be tackled during the negotiations," he continued.

"Given the serious differences between certain partners on a number of key questions, we don't expect there to be quick and easy decisions."

China, the host of the talks, said on Thursday it hoped the talks would resume before the Chinese New Year, which begins on February 18. The United States and Japan have also spoken of a resumption in February.

The six-way talks — involving the United States, China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas — resumed in December after a gap of more than one year, during which Pyongyang tested its first atom bomb.

The last session made no visible progress, with North Korea sticking to its demands that the United States end sanctions against a Macau-based bank accused of laundering money for the impoverished communist regime.

But chief US envoy Christopher Hill voiced optimism after rare one-to-one talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan in Berlin last week.

earlier related report

NKorea nuclear talks expected February 8: Japanese FM

Tokyo (AFP) Jan 28 – Six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear arms drive are expected to resume on February 8, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Sunday.

An official announcement of the resumption date is likely Monday morning, Aso said, as the United States and North Korea prepared to discuss financial sanctions that the communist regime says are hindering the talks' progress.

Senior US Treasury official Daniel Glaser arrived in Beijing on Sunday to discuss the sanctions with his North Korean counterparts, a US embassy spokesman said.

Analysts say a resolution to the sanctions dispute is crucial to tackling the broader issue of Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, which are under discussion in the parallel talks involving the US, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas.

Glaser, deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, will meet North Korean officials on Tuesday, the embassy spokesman told AFP.

Glaser said on arrival that he hoped to have "productive meetings" while in the Chinese capital, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The imminent restart of further six-nations talks looked increasingly certain after Aso told reporters: "North Korea has been mentioning the eighth (of February). If the United States accepts it, it will be the eighth."

"A conclusive announcement is expected to be made on Monday morning," Aso said while speaking in the northern Japanese city of Tomakomai, local news agencies reported.

Aso said China, which has hosted the six-nation talks since August 2003, will ensure that "it will not lose its face again" by failing to help produce any result.

The six-way talks last took place in December after a 13-month break during which North Korea tested an atom bomb for the first time.

That session ended in deadlock, with North Korea sticking to its demands that the United States end the financial sanctions against a Macau-based bank accused of laundering money for the impoverished communist regime.

A pact for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear programme in return for diplomatic recognition and food and energy aid was agreed in September 2005.

But it was never implemented because of Pyongyang's protests over the sanctions that Washington imposed the same month.

The US claimed Banco Delta Asia served as key conduit for North Korean counterfeiting and money laundering. Pyongyang has denied Washington's allegations.

At the expected new round of talks, the US and its six-nations partners will demand that North Korea begins to break up its key nuclear facilities within months, a South Korean news report said Sunday.

The dismantling will be the priority demand when the parties sit down, Yonhap news agency said.

"The idea is that North Korea should begin the dismantling (of its key facilities) within several months after agreeing on initial steps to take for the implementation" of the 2005 pact, a source told Yonhap.

Source: Agence France-Presse