Nuke list expected soon

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is likely to soon make its long-delayed declaration of its nuclear activities, which could then lead to fresh talks on ending Pyongyang's atomic ambitions, a Republic of Korea (ROK) official said yesterday.

Pyongyang has given Washington a few days ago 18,822 documents about its plutonium program.

DPRK missed an end of 2007 deadline to provide a list of its atomic inventory to China, the host of six-way nuclear talks. ROK officials have said they see the declaration coming in the next few days or weeks.

"If you do the math from the process of the DPRK submitting a declaration to China in a few days and China circulating it, you get the expectation that the resumption of the six-way talks would be in early June," ROK Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said.

(China Daily 05/15/2008 page11)