Six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear programmes will resume on December 18th after more than a year's suspension, China's Foreign Ministry said today.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
"The second stage of the fifth round of the six-party talks will start from December 18 in Beijing after consultations among the parties," a foreign ministry spokesman said in statement on its website.
North Korea walked out of the negotiations with South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China a year ago but agreed to return to the table following international condemnation over its October 9th nuclear test.
The reclusive state agreed on October 29th to rejoin the talks, but it took weeks of discussions to settle on a date.
In September last year, North Korea agreed to "abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes" in return for aid and security guarantees from the United States and other countries.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today that the upcoming talks needed to make at least some progress towards that goal.
"We have to move forward at the talks, even if it is only one or two steps, towards the goal of North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons and its existing nuclear plans. We must induce North Korea to take concrete steps," he said in Tokyo.