US says DPRK demand for reactor not to derail accord: report

The Bush administration has brushed off a demand from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for a light-water reactor and said the DPRK should abandon its nuclear weapons program first, the New York Times newspaper said in a report on Wednesday.

"We will stick to the text of the Beijing statement, and I believe we can make progress if everybody sticks to what was actually agreed to," the report quoted US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying at a news briefing in New York with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The fourth round of six-party talks on the DPRK nuclear issue concluded in Beijing on Monday with the adoption of a joint statement, in which the DPRK says it is committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs.

The statement also declared that the DPRK has the right to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, while other parties have expressed their respect and agreed to discuss, at an appropriate time, the subject of the provision of light-water reactors to the DPRK.

The DPRK insisted on Tuesday that it would not dismantle its nuclear weapons program until the United States gives it civilian nuclear reactors.

The United States has hailed the DPRK commitment to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, but stressed that the DPRK will get light-water reactors only after it has done so.

"The deal with five other countries is that they have to get out of the nuclear business, and at an appropriate time to have discussions on a light-water reactor," Christopher Hill, the chief negotiator in the six-party talks, was quoted as saying.

The next round of six-party talks, which involves the DPRK, the United States, China, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan, is to be held in Beijing in early November.

Source: Xinhua