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Six ministers ready to discuss N.Korea nuclear issue in Beijing

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The foreign ministers of the six countries involved in negotiations on North Korea's nuclear disarmament are ready to hold an official meeting in Beijing, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
MOSCOW, July (RIA Novosti) - The foreign ministers of the six countries involved in negotiations on North Korea's nuclear disarmament are ready to hold an official meeting in Beijing, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

The ministers met in Singapore on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum.

"The ministers highlighted the need to invigorate the six-party process and expressed their readiness to hold an official meeting in Beijing, a time frame for which will be agreed later," the ministry said.

This was the first time that the six countries involved in the talks - Russia, the United States, China, Japan and the two Koreas - had got their top diplomats together. Discussions on North Korea's nuclear program have been going on since 2003.

The latest round of talks on North Korea was held on July 10-12 in Beijing. The negotiations were given a boost by Pyongyang's agreement to scrap its nuclear reactors by the end of October, and to allow foreign experts to visit facilities to verify information released by the communist state on its past nuclear activities.

North Korea insists it has met its denuclearization commitments in full, and is demanding that the United States end its "hostile policies."

The six nations have yet to agree on a mechanism to verify last month's declaration by Pyongyang on its weapons-grade plutonium stockpile.

A draft agreement on verification has been drawn up and according to chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill a deal on the issue could be reached by mid-August.

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