TOKYO, December 22 (RIA Novosti) - Participants in the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program will discuss Friday the viability of the current format for negotiations on the last day of meetings, resumed after a 13-month suspension in Beijing four days ago, Japan's envoy said.
Kenichiro Sasae said, "There is doubt as to the viability of the six-party talks format."
Russia, China, Japan, the U.S., and South Korea resumed talks with North Korea Monday to convince the secretive Communist state to abandon its nuclear program. Since the North boycotted the talks in protest against UN and U.S. sanctions, it has conducted its first nuclear weapons test, and also tested ballistic missiles.
On Wednesday, the talks shifted to a bilateral format, and the delegations are set to gather at the negotiating table Friday with the possibility of issuing a statement that may reaffirm the importance of further negotiations, and the willingness of all sides to reach positive results.
"The situation remains serious, and there is no prospect of a breakthrough," Sasae said on Thursday after the fourth day of talks in Beijing, adding that the talks were deadlocked over North Korea's inflexible position on financial issues.
Late last year, the U.S. accused North Korea of printing counterfeit dollars and laundering money through foreign banks, and ordered Macao-based Macau Delta Asia bank to freeze North Korean accounts holding $24 million.
At the resumed talks, Pyongyang has demanded that the sanctions be lifted and also insisted on its status as a nuclear power, which means that negotiations, initially launched in 2003 to persuade the North to give up its nuclear ambitions after it withdrew from the NPT, could switch onto an arms reduction track.
