SEOUL, June 5 (AFP): The two Koreas Thursday held a one-day meeting to work out details on further energy assistance to North Korea under a six-nation nuclear deal, officials said.
The talks began at a truce border village of Panmunjeom, north of Seoul, between Hwang Joon-Kook, Seoul's deputy nuclear negotiator to six-party talks, and his North Korean counterpart Hyon Hak-Bong, they said.
The foreign ministry said the meeting was to prepare for full-fledged six-nation working group discussions on energy aid due here next week.
"The agenda should focus much on what North Koreans want to receive in energy aid," a ministry official said.
South Korea is in charge of supplying energy aid to North Korea under the aid-for- disarmament deal, which was also endorsed by the US, China, Russia and Japan in February last year.
South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan will resume discussions on the energy aid in Seoul Tuesday before holding a full meeting with North Korea in Panmunjeom Wednesday, the official said.
Seoul has hosted such energy-aid discussions, including one held eight months ago, to fulfil the six-nation agreement.
North Korea agreed last year to drop its nuclear programme in exchange for diplomatic and political incentives on top of energy aid equivalent one million tonnes of fuel oil from the other five nations.
Half of the energy aid should be in heavy fuel oil and the rest is in the other forms of energy aid, such as power plant construction materials or other facilities.
South Korea, the United States, China, and Russia have taken turns to provide about 40 per cent of the pledged heavy fuel oil, while Japan has yet to take part citing Japanese civilians abducted by Pyongyang decades ago.
Seoul has supplied steel plates, apparently for use in patching up the North's decrepit power stations, to Pyongyang as part of energy aid promised under a six-party nuclear deal.
