North Korea held out against heavy pressure today as marathon nuclear crisis talks appeared to be running out of steam, with China flagging the possibility that the six parties would wind up without even a joint statement.
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan
Pyongyang said it was committed to denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula but insisted on its right to maintain nuclear programmes for peaceful use, a demand that has blocked progress at negotiations now headed for an 11th day tomorrow.
"We want to denuclearise the Korean peninsula but we seek peaceful use," North Korea's chief negotiator, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, told reporters in Beijing.
"All countries in the world have the right to peaceful nuclear activities," he said. "We are not a defeated nation in war and we have committed no crime so why should we not be able to conduct peaceful nuclear activities?"
Three previous rounds of talks failed to end the crisis, and negotiators from the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host nation China -- meeting for the fourth time in two years -- faced the prospect of another abortive outcome.
With agreement still elusive, a Chinese delegation spokesman said the parties were working to narrow differences but left open the prospect that they might not reach agreement on a statement.
"The joint document is not the barometer for whether the six party talks are a success or not," Qin Gang told reporters, adding that the talks were still inching towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.