China urges parties to honor promises on DPRK issue

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-26 19:43

BEIJING -- China on Tuesday urged parties in the Korean Peninsula nuclear talks to honor their commitments and take joint actions even when difficulties arise.

"Whether opportunity knocks or difficulty arises, we should keep in mind our goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and a peaceful and stable northeast Asia, honor our commitments, enhance mutual trust and work closely to push the six-party talks," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular press briefing.

Qin's comments came hours after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced that it had stopped disabling its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon.

The DPRK will "consider reconstructing the nuclear facilities," the official KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.

Accusing the United States of violating a six-nation disarmament deal, the DPRK attributed its move to the US failure to remove it from a terrorism blacklist.

Under a six-party denuclearization deal, the disablement work at the Yongbyon facility, about 90 kilometers from the capital Pyongyang, had been under way since November 2007.

"The six-party talks are still faced with important opportunities," Qin said, citing the progress made in earlier six-party talks.

"The chief negotiators' talks and foreign ministers' informal meeting in July produced important consensuses on how to move the nuclear talks ahead," Qin said.

The spokesman said China has always kept close communication and consultation with the other parties in the talks in an effort to iron out differences and increase common ground.

"We hope the communication and consultation can overcome all difficulties and complex factors and take the nuclear talks into a new phase," Qin said.

The spokesman stressed that China will continue its constructive role in the talks, which started in 2003 and also include the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and Japan.

"China will take an open attitude and play its part in any effort that will work for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and safeguard regional peace and stability," Qin said.