China Issues Draft of Verification Protocol Over NK Nukes

China issued a draft agreement Tuesday on ways to inspect North Korea's nuclear facilities as senior envoys began their second day of talks here, Yonhap News reported quoting South Korean delegates in Beijing.

The related parties will review the draft and deliver their positions to China, which chairs the negotiations, for modification if needed. Its contents remain undisclosed.

At the end of talks in July, North Korea agreed with its dialogue partners ― South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan ― to allow their inspectors to choose "visits to facilities, review of documents, interviews with technical personnel and other measures unanimously agreed upon among the six parties."

The planned verification protocol will provide more detailed guidelines on what inspection measures will be used, and determine a time line and method.

Putting verification methods in a six-way written agreement is the No. 1 goal in this week's talks, Washington and its allies say.

A major sticking point is whether sampling from the North's nuclear sites will be allowed. The U.S. says it is a crucial tool for thorough verification, while North Korea says sampling can be discussed only in the next stage when dismantling its nuclear program.

One compromise being considered is to reach a broad and purposefully vague deal in a main document and put a sampling-related agreement in a secondary paper that will not be made public, according to Yonhap.

"We will need to focus our discussions on the verification issue," South Korea's main negotiator Kim Sook was quoted as saying earlier in the day.

North Korea has said discussions on promised energy aid should be a top priority. Seoul's envoy said Monday night that the two issues are connected, pressing the North to agree on the verification plan if it wants to receive the remaining 450,000 tons of heavy oil.

"We've come here with three goals in mind. To complete the verification protocol is very important. We also want to complete the schedule of energy and the schedule of disablement," chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill told reporters on Tuesday morning. "Our plan is to get all the three done," he said.

This round of talks is scheduled to end on Wednesday but envoys say it may be extended.