| The United States says it made no concessions | | | | nuclear weapons, in a verifiable fashion in return |
| to bring North Korea back to six-party | | | | for a better way forward for her people." |
| negotiations over its nuclear program. Pyongyang | | | | The Pyongyang government pulled out of the |
| agreed to return to the negotiations Tuesday at a | | | | six-party talks after a brief round last November. |
| round of secret talks with senior U.S. and Chinese | | | | It had said it would not return unless the United |
| officials in Beijing. | | | | States dropped financial penalties imposed last |
| Officials here are welcoming the agreement to | | | | year because of alleged North Korean |
| restart the six-party talks, but they're insisting the | | | | counterfeiting and other illicit activity being |
| United States made no concessions to North | | | | conducted through the Macao-based Banco Delta |
| Korea and will press ahead on U.N. sanctions | | | | Asia. |
| mandated after Pyongyang's October 9 nuclear | | | | But the U.S. envoy to Tuesday's Beijing meeting, |
| test. | | | | Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian |
| The Chinese-sponsored negotiations have not | | | | Affairs Christopher Hill, said his North Korean |
| convened for nearly a year despite an agreement | | | | counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan told him Pyongyang |
| in principle by the six parties in September of last | | | | was now ready to deal with the financial issue |
| year, under which Pyongyang was to scrap its | | | | within the six-party forum. |
| nuclear program in exchange for aid and security | | | | At a news briefing here, State Department |
| guarantees. | | | | Spokesman Sean McCormack said that discussion |
| China had been making intensive backstage | | | | could be conducted through a working group or |
| efforts to get the talks going again, and Beijing, | | | | other mechanism in the context of the broader |
| which is North Korea's biggest trading partner and | | | | negotiations: |
| aid provider, is reported to have recently | | | | "In terms of Banco Delta Asia and other financial |
| stepped-up economic pressure on the reclusive | | | | issues, we're willing to address those issues in the |
| communist state. | | | | context of the six-party talks," he said. "You can |
| Speaking to reporters at the White House, | | | | have a variety of different mechanisms, you can |
| President Bush publicly thanked China for arranging | | | | have a working group, in order to discuss these |
| the three-way meeting that produced Tuesday's | | | | issues. I think the North Koreans understand that |
| agreement, while making clear that efforts to | | | | the easy way around these questions is not to |
| enforce the sanctions stemming from the nuclear | | | | engage in illicit behavior." |
| test will go forward: | | | | No date has been given for the resumption of the |
| He said, "We'll be sending teams to the region to | | | | six-party talks but U.S. officials say they expect it |
| work with our partners to make sure that the | | | | will be before the end of the year and perhaps |
| current United Nations Security Council resolution | | | | sometime in November. |
| is enforced, but also to make sure that the | | | | The six-party talks, which include South Korea, |
| [six-party] talks are effective - that we achieve | | | | Japan and Russia along with North Korea, the |
| the results we want, which is a North Korea that | | | | United States and host China, began in 2003. |
| abandons their nuclear weapons programs and her | | | | |