Serious disagreements persist at N. Korea talks – Chinese diplomat

BEIJING. Dec 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The first day of the fifth round of the six-party talks on nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula has confirmed that serious disagreements persist over ways to make the peninsula a nuclear-free zone, said Jiang Yu, the Chinese delegation's spokesperson.

"The beginning shows that the parties remain divided by disagreements, some of them very serious," the Chinese diplomats said at a press briefing on Monday.

"The sides must make a joint effort" to attain concrete results, she said.

The six-nation talks involve the two Koreas, Russia, China, the United States and Japan.