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North Korea fails to show for meeting of chief envoys
 BEIJING - A scheduled meeting of the top envoys to talks on North Koreaâs nuclear program failed to take place on Wednesday because delegates from the Stalinist state did not show up, a source close to the negotiations said.
| Did he faint from hunger? |
South Koreaâs chief envoy Song Min-Soon had said the meeting, on the ninth day of six-party talks, would begin at 3 pm (0700 GMT). It was supposed to put final touches to a Chinese-drafted joint statement on how the North might abandon its atomic arsenal. But the meeting did not take place.
| Oh I am just so surprised. |
The source said the Northâs chief delegate Kim Kye-gwan and his team went to the venue Wednesday morning but returned to their embassy soon afterwards. âThe North Korea delegation has not come out of its embassy compound since midday today,â he told AFP.
| And just try making them. |
Christopher Hill, leading the US delegation, told reporters they had not received North Koreaâs comment on the fourth draft of the Chinese document aimed at setting out the principles of how North Korea should disarm. âWe donât know about the status of the DPRKâs comments and their attitude to the Chinese draft,â he said, referring to North Korea by its official name Democratic Peoplesâ Republic of Korea.
| "But we can guess," he added. |
âI suspect the Chinese may want further discussions and we will be happy to do whatever the host wants,â he added.
| "Ya, sure, you betcha, give us a call when something happens, okay?" |
âI think we are really getting to the end of this negotiating process. I am not going to predict it is over today or tomorrow, I just donât know.
âBut, certainly, in terms of the negotiating process, through this week and the past ten days, I think we are getting to the end of this.â
Posted by: Steve White 2005-08-04 |
