BEIJING, September 19 (RIA Novosti) - The fourth round of six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program confirmed the country's sovereign right to conduct peaceful nuclear research, a joint statement said Monday.
The statement said the parties respected North Korea's position on its right to conduct peaceful nuclear research and agreed to discuss providing the country with a light-water reactor.
The document highlighted North Korea's pledge to give up a nuclear weapon programs and to rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), along with permitting the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect its nuclear sites.
The document stated that the U.S. had no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and did not intend to invade North Korea using nuclear or conventional weapons. The two countries also confirmed their commitment to peaceful coexistence and the normalization of bilateral relations.
North Korea and Japan agreed to step up efforts to normalize bilateral relations within the framework of the Pyongyang Declaration.
China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States pledged to provide assistance to North Korea's energy sector, with South Korea confirming its July 12 proposal to supply its neighbor with two million kilowatts of electric power.
According to the statement, the delegations agreed to form consensus based on the reciprocal principle "an obligation for an obligation, an act for an act."
The delegations agreed to hold a fifth round of negotiations in Beijing in early December.
