By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
The multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear programs are expected to resume next week with the communist regime preparing to declare its nuclear projects, while the United States is moving to remove it from its list of terrorism-sponsoring countries in return.
Top nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States met their Chinese counterpart in Beijing, Monday, to discuss the resumption of the stalled six-party negotiations.
On Sunday, Seoul's envoy Kim Sook said Pyongyang had invited five media companies, one each from the five other nations involved in the six-party talks, to cover its blowing-up of a 20-meter-tall cooling tower at the Yongbyong nuclear reactor.
Before the event to be broadcast live worldwide by CNN, it will hand over a complete list of its past and current nuclear activities to China, the host of the six-party talks, he said.
Diplomatic sources said Pyongyang will submit its declaration as early as Thursday, and demolish the cooling tower the next day. It has demanded money from the other countries to cover demolition costs, the sources said.
Once the North submits the declaration, the United States will start the process of removing the communist state from its terrorism blacklist, they said.
The media firms invited to the North are CNN of the United States, MBC of South Korea, Kyodo News of Japan, Xinhwa News Agency of China and Itar-Tass News Agency of Russia. CNN reporters are already on standby in Beijing to fly to Pyongyang, the sources said.
MBC said Monday it will send one reporter and two cameramen to the North to cover the demolition. ``We've sent the names of the crew to the North,'' said Kim Seong-soo, head of the MBC News Department. ``There has been no word from the North about how much we should pay for the coverage.''
Officials in Seoul said the United States had requested China to restart the six-party talks as early as possible after talks with South Korea and Japan, and China agreed.
``China is currently gathering opinions from each country about the date for the resumption of the talks. The talks may open early next week,'' an official said.
U.S. envoy Christopher Hill, after meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei in Beijing, said Saturday the six-nation talks will take place ``soon.''
North Korea reached a landmark six-party deal in February last year, in which it agreed to disable nuclear plants in exchange for aid and diplomatic incentives.