Rice: Next round of N. Korea talks set

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE - The next six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program will be held Dec. 8 in China, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday.

The aim of the round would be an agreement on verification of North Korean disarmament steps, Rice told reporters aboard Air Force One. She said she would make no predictions whether a deal would be reached.

That leaves it uncertain whether the talks would be resolved before President Bush leaves office in January.

The parties to the talks are North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States.

In a deal worked out in 2005, reclusive North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and a chance to end its international isolation.

Pyongyang, which has tested an atomic device, began to disable some of its nuclear facilities last year but did not hand over a promised list about its nuclear arms program until this summer.

The agreement almost collapsed because the United States was slow in removing North Korea from a terrorism blacklist, which it did in October after the two sides agreed on a procedure to verify Pyongyang's statements about its nuclear program.

REUTERS