'N Korea nuclear talks may resume early Dec'

Tokyo, Nov 13: Six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions are likely to resume in early December, Russian ambassador to Japan Alexander Losyukov said today.

But he said he did not expect a breakthrough in the talks, which group the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

''On the question of when a next round of the six-party talks will be, exchanges of diplomatic documents show early December,'' Losyukov told a news conference in Tokyo.

North Korea pulled out of the six-party talks a year ago, protesting a U.S. financial crackdown, but agreed in late October to return to the negotiating table on the premise the U S measures would be discussed.

But the dates of the next round of the talks have yet to be fixed.

''Even if the talks are held, I don't think there will be a complete solution to the problem,'' said Losyukov, who was Russia's representative to the early rounds of the six-nation talks.

Speaking in Russian with Japanese interpretation, he said the nature of the six-party talks had been ''changed radically'' in the wake of North Korea's nuclear test on October 9.

He said the talks should be held more frequently to prevent the situation on the Korean peninsula from plunging into a crisis situation.

Reuters

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