Kelly will lead the U.S. delegation to the Beijing nuclear talks

WASHINGTON, April 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – China will host and participate in high-level nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea next week.

The meeting, which will be the first direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang since the nuclear face-off erupted in October, appears to be a compromise between the U.S. demand for multilateral discussions and North Korea's insistence on a one-on-one dialogue with the United States, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday, April 16.

"We have succeeded in our efforts to establish a multilateral framework," a U.S. official said late Tuesday, April 15, on condition of anonymity.

However, the talks will be notable for the absence of the two closest U.S. partners in dealing with North Korea, Japan and South Korea, American sources said.

They added that Pyongyang, which has alarmed much of Asia with its drive for nuclear weapons, has insisted that the three-way format was the only option it would accept.

"This is an initial beginning of dialogue, we wanted them (the Japanese and South Koreans) there but the North Koreans were insistent that it only be the three," the senior U.S. official said.

He added an agreement on the three-way meeting had been brokered by China in a "counterproposal" to U.S. suggestions for a larger group of participants presented to North Korea.

In the proposal, Beijing also agreed to take an active role in the talks, the sources said, adding that this had appealed to the Pyongyang which has long relied on China as its closest ally.

"It is good. Each country is working to urge North Korea" to take part in talks with other countries in the region, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said.

He expressed hope the United States or China would press North Korea to accept Japan's participation in future talks.

In Seoul, South Korea's new ambassador to Washington, Han Sung-Joo, a former foreign minister, said the format for the talks had not been fixed.

"Discussions are still under way," said Han. "If multilateral talks start, this will be only the beginning of dialogue and the format doesn't matter.

"The U.S. position is flexible as it believes South and Japan can be involved in talks on economic cooperation and Russia on energy."

U.S. acceptance of the North Korean requirement seemed to signal a major concession but Secretary of State Colin Powell earlier said ultimately the concerns of all North Korea's neighbors would be addressed.

"The one thing that is absolutely clear is that, at whatever level it starts and with whatever attendance it has to ultimately encompass the views and thoughts of all the neighbors in the region," Powell said.

In addition, the sources said Washington reserved the right to add other participants to the talks as they continued, including Russia.

The sources also said U.S. officials had assured both Seoul and Tokyo they would be consulted on a daily basis.

The U.S. State Department declined to comment on the planned talks.

North Korean diplomats in Beijing said they had not heard of any such meeting and the Chinese foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment.

The exact dates for the Beijing discussions were not immediately clear, but in an ironic twist, the U.S. delegation will be led by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific James Kelly, the sources said.

Kelly's visit to Pyongyang in October precipitated the crisis, when he accused North Korea of pursuing a nuclear program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 anti-nuclear deal.

Since then, Pyongyang has ratcheted up tension, expelling international nuclear inspectors, testing missiles and announcing its withdrawal January 10 from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Next week's talks will be the culmination of weeks of secret diplomacy, conducted through North Koreans diplomats at the United Nations and U.S. contacts with powers including China, Russia, Australia and South Korea.

Those efforts, particularly those by the Chinese, paid off over the weekend when North Korea said it was willing to drop its insistence on bilateral talks with the United States under the right conditions, the sources said.

The planned meeting will also highlight the growing cooperation between China and the United States which have seen their interests coincide after a rocky start to relations when President George W. Bush took office in 2001.

North Korea asserts that its very existence is threatened by U.S. plans to launch nuclear war against the isolated and impoverished country, branded Bush part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and Iraq.