S Korea, N Korea to hold denuclearisation talks in Beijing Sept 21

"North and South Korea have agreed to appoint September 21 as the date for the talks on the nuclear issue," the agency quoted source. The exact time and duration of the talks will be announced later.

It will be the second over the past two months a high-level inter-Korean contact. The previous similar meeting was held in Indonesia in July this year.

The bilateral consultations, analysts expect, could be a prelude to the resumption of the six-party talks to resolve the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula, which involve, in addition to North Korea and South Korea, Russia, China, the United States and Japan. Despite the fact that some time ago Pyongyang called for an early resumption of negotiations in this format, Seoul and Washington believe that the North must first prove in practice that it will not cancel its previous obligations in the nuclear disarmament sphere.

According to Yonhap, Wi Sung-lac and Ri Yong-ho will hold the talks in the Chinese capital on Wednesday, the second round of bilateral diplomatic meetings this year. "The South and North agreed to set a date for the nuclear talks on September 21," said the official. "The exact time and frequency will be discussed there (in Beijing)."

The two top nuclear negotiators met in Indonesia for the first time in more than two years in late July, setting the tone for renewed diplomatic efforts to reopen the stalled six-party talks. "In the upcoming meeting, they will discuss broader issues like they did in Indonesia to create conditions for resuming the six-way talks," said the official. "Securing the preemptive steps for denuclearisation is the goal of this meeting."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, during a rare summit on August 24 with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, reportedly pledged to consider issuing a moratorium on nuclear testing and missile launches if the six-party talks resume.

South Korea and the United States, however, have demand that Pyongyang suspend its uranium enrichment programs, accept inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency and announce a moratorium on testing weapons of mass destruction before the multilateral negotiations begin. "But we can't achieve results through just one or two rounds of denuclearisation talks," said the official. "The North did not express its position on the preconditions during the recent talks to fix the date"; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass.

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