Delegations of Six-party Talks comment on China's draft proposal

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-09 23:41

BEIJING -- China on Tuesday distributed a draft proposal on how to verify the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) nuclear information.

According to top US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill, the other parties had already returned their comments to China.

"It's a work in progress -- we have given our comments and other delegations have given theirs," said Hill, adding conversations would continue Wednesday.

China held bilateral meetings with Russia, the DPRK, the US, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan on Tuesday. China also conducted a separate meeting with the DPRK Tuesday evening.

When asked about the DPRK's response to the draft, Hill said, "I haven't seen how the DPRK responded. It's a draft that tries to reflect a lot of people's views and I don't know where the DPRK is on that."

Hill said there are scientific procedures regarding verification in the draft. He added that the six parties are getting into specifics.

Hill emphasized China's efforts to form the draft, which addressed each party's concern.

"As I said, we saw it represents a lot of effort by the Chinese chair. Anytime you see someone put a lot of effort, you should respond with effort and hard work of your own. That's what we tried to do today."

This is the third chief delegates' meeting during the sixth round of the six-party talks after a five-month suspension.