Скачать или смотреть WRAP SK, Japanese, US delegations arrive ahead of NK talks

(10 May 2004)

1. Interior of airport terminal
2. Close-up of flight arrivals board
3. South Korean delegates participating in six-party working level talks on North Korean nuclear issues walking through gate into arrivals hall, zoom in on Cho Tae-young, head of delegation
4. Cutaway of media
5. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Cho Tae-young, Head of South Korean Foreign Ministry's Task Force on North Korean Nuclear Issue:
"I wish all the parties would exchange opinions frankly and honestly in an informal atmosphere. I come to Beijing with the expectation that solutions or breakthroughs will happen among the six parties based on these kinds of talks."
6. Crowd of media following Cho
7. Cho walking towards van outside airport
8. Delegates getting into van
9. Van driving away from terminal
10. Japanese delegates arriving at hotel, led by Akitaka Saiki, Deputy General of Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanic Affairs Bureau
11. Japanese delegates unloading suitcases outside
12. More Japanese delegates arriving at hotel
13. Cutaway camera
14. US delegates' car arriving outside
15. US delegates entering hotel, led by Joseph de Trani, US special envoy for negotiations with North Korea
16. US delegates walking away

STORYLINE:

Delegations from South Korea, Japan and the United States arrived in Beijing on Monday for the first working-group meeting of six-nation talks, aimed at resolving the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons development programme.

The South Korean working group, headed by Cho Tae-young, head of the Foreign Ministry's task force on the North Korean nuclear issue, will begin its official business on Tuesday when it meets the Chinese delegation.

Whether the South Korean delegates will try to hold a pre-session meeting with their North Korean counterparts was unknown.

Speaking to waiting journalists at Beijing's international airport, delegation head Cho Tae-young said he expected some kind of breakthrough during the coming round.

The talks, which are expected to start on Wednesday, are aimed at laying the groundwork for a third round of talks planned for the end of June.

As well as the nuclear weapons issue, Tokyo is also seeking a breakthrough on the issue of North Korea's abductions of five Japanese citizens who were kidnapped by North Korean spies in the 1970s and released in October 2002 when diplomatic relations appeared to be thawing.

But North Korea has refused to hand over eight family members left behind by the former Japanese abductees. The two governments are expected to continue discussing the issue on the sidelines of the six-nation talks.

The United States, South Korea and Japan have been insisting on the North's complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of its nuclear programmes.

Pyongyang has already admitted to its plutonium-based programme.

But the discussions may encounter difficulties because the United States is expected to urge the North to reveal the truth about its alleged nuclear development programme based on highly enriched uranium.

Representatives from North Korea and Russia are expected to reach Beijing to join the talks by Tuesday.

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