JCP Shii comments on 6-party talks on N-Korean nuclear programs

The 3rd round of talks on North Korean nuclear development programs held in Beijing by six countries (China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, the United States) ended on June 26 with the chairman's statement promising to work on concrete measures for freezing North Korea's nuclear programs.

The statement said that working-level discussions will be held as soon as possible as the "first step toward denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula. It also emphasized that "substantial discussions" will be necessary to narrow down differences, adding that a peaceful solution should be a step-by-step process.

North Korea, the United States and other countries for the first time presented a concrete proposal to denuclearize the peninsula in order to begin discussing substance.

In a published statement on the same day, Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo said as follows:

"We welcome the 3rd round of the 6-party talks having reached agreement to take the first step as soon as possible toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. On the whole, the six nations seriously discussed substantive matters. North Korea and the United States had a face-to-face dialogue, and North Korea expressed its willingness to consider the U.S.-proposal as a constructive suggestion.

"For peace and stability in northeast Asia as well as for Japan, I look forward to further progress in the talks toward solving the North Korean nuclear question.

"After the 6-party talks, Japan and North Korea held a meeting. We hope that the two countries will fully begin bilateral negotiations based on the Japan-DPRK Declaration as reconfirmed in the latest Japan-North Korea summit, and make progress in taking concrete steps to comprehensively solve the pending issues between the two countries." (end)