Disarmament plan handed out at NKorea talks-report

MOSCOW, Feb 8 (Reuters) The Chinese hosts of six-party talks on North Korea have circulated to participants a draft plan on initial steps for ending Pyongyang's nuclear programmes, Russia's RIA news agency said today.

It quoted unnamed diplomatic sources in the Chinese capital as saying the draft was distributed to national delegations late at night. Russia is one of the participants in the talks.

The sources added that the plan proposed stopping within two months the work of North Korean nuclear sites, including the Yongbyon reactor, and supplying Pyongyang with alternative energy sources.

The delegations will start discussing the plan early tomorrow, RIA said.

Earlier today, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was cautiously optimistic it may be possible to begin carrying out a September 2005 agreement on ending North Korea's nuclear programmes.

REUTERS BDP HS2308