N. Korea nuclear talks resume

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N. Korea nuclear talks resume
« Thread Started on Dec 8, 2008, 9:10pm »

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N. Korea nuclear talks resume
Posted: 03:59 AM ET
BEIJING, China (CNN) — New talks among North Korea’s neighbors and the United States over the North Korea’s nuclear weapons program opened Monday in the Chinese capital, five months after the last round of negotiations, China announced.

The last round of talks, held in July, ended with an agreement on a timetable for North Korea to resume disablement of its nuclear facilities. But the reclusive communist state balked at the deal, demanding that the United States first take it off its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Washington lifted that designation in October, but plans to push for an agreement allowing the other parties to check whether Pyongyang has revealed all of its nuclear secrets, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last month.

North Korea tested a nuclear weapon in 2006. In June, it acknowledged producing roughly 40 kilograms of enriched plutonium — enough for about seven nuclear bombs.