NORTH KOREA: Thorny six-nation negotiations on North Korea's nuclear programme ended with a pledge to hold more talks about dismantling the Stalinist state's nuclear weapons, but envoys warned there was a long way to go before Washington and Pyongyang settle their differences, writes Clifford Coonan in Beijing
Four days of talks, which ended on Saturday, failed to come up with any breakthroughs, but diplomats said there was a cautious optimism about the next round of talks, which are due to be held before September.
"This is the first step, at the entrance. From now starts the work on concrete measures," said Japan's envoy Mr Mitoji Yabunaka. "The problems start from here."
The talks will decide how to define North Korea's initial moves toward disarmament, how to monitor those moves and what kind of economic and energy aid Pyongyang would get in return.
At the EU-US summit in Dromoland Castle, President Bush and European leaders called for the "complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement" of Pyongyang's nuclear programme, including uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing.
The third round of talks between North and South Korea, the US, Japan, Russia and China looked in trouble after North Korea threatened to test a nuclear device. The talks survived Pyongyang's sabre-rattling because North Korea said it was ready to scrap its nuclear facilities if a deal was agreed.
An offer by the US to give aid to North Korea if it disarms was the main cause of optimism.