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Beijing: North Korea yesterday pledged to complete steps to disable its nuclear facilities by the end of October, at six-country talks aimed at disarming the communist state in return for aid and better diplomatic relations.
International envoys did not reach final agreement on a detailed guideline of how to verify the North's account of its nuclear activities made last month. But they mandated a working group to draw up the details.
"The protocol gets very complex, but it's not just saying what verifiers will have a right to do - that is, to visit sites - but it also spells out what they can do when they visit the sites," chief US envoy Christopher Hill told reporters.
Hill said he saw no big problems in reaching agreement.
But South Korean envoy Kim Sook echoed lingering scepticism in the long-running effort to disarm the isolated North that has been marred by delays and accusations of broken promises. He said it was just the easier part of the job that had been done.
"I am not optimistic at all about what's ahead, especially as implementing the verification guideline is a very difficult job where we need to coordinate the different positions and interests of the six parties," he told reporters after the talks.
The impoverished North will get all 1 million tonnes of heavy fuel oil by the same date as promised under the disarmament deal with South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China, a joint statement issued at the end of three days of talks said.
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