Negotiators from six nations held a third day of talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programme on Saturday, focussing on energy assistance to Pyongyang in return for dismantling its nuclear facilities, according to dpa. US negotiator Christopher Hill said the officials would discuss fuel oil to be given to North Korea under an agreement in February for North Korea to disable and eventually dismantle its main nuclear facilities. The White House on Friday said US President George W Bush had authorized the provision of 50,000 tons of fuel oil, valued at 25 million dollars, in energy aid to North Korea under the agreement. "It's action for action," the Washington Post quoted National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe as saying. "We feel like the North Koreans are taking the right steps in living up to their obligations under the agreements," Johndroe said. South Korea and China have already sent similar oil shipments to North Korea. Negotiators from North Korea, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia struggled on Friday to agree on a "road map" for the dismantlement of Pyongyang's nuclear plants, as differences surfaced over how North Korea should disable its facilities. South Korea's Yonhap news agency Hill as saying earlier that the United States wanted a level of disablement that would make it hard for North Korea to re-enable its nuclear facilities within 12 months. North Korea was able to restart its previously frozen nuclear plants in just two months in 2003. The sticking points were believed to include the removal from North Korea of components from key nuclear facilities. The six parties were also considering a "special management plan" for the disablement and handling of radioactive components from the disabled nuclear facilities, Yonhap said. Officials on Saturday said they discussed a joint statement, drafted by China, that would reportedly require the disablement of North Korea's main nuclear facilities and a full declaration of all nuclear sites by the end of this year. "All parties discussed this draft document at today's meeting and have taken it back for study, so there are no meetings this afternoon," Chinese and Japanese media quoted Kenichiro Sasae, the head of Japan's delegation, as saying on Saturday afternoon. Sasae declined to discuss details of the draft statement. After more than three years of six-party negotiations, North Korea agreed in February to abandon its nuclear programme in return for 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil and the eventual normalization of US- North Korean ties that have been on ice since the 1950-53 Korean War. Following the February agreement, North Korea has shut down its five main nuclear facilities. The latest round of talks was scheduled to end Sunday.
