The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed to abolish its nuclear weapons program while retaining its peaceful nuclear program, according to Russian chief negotiator Alexander Losiukov Thursday.

Losiukov said the DPRK agreed to abolish its nuclear weapons program on the precondition that the United States gave assurance of non-aggression and respect for DPRK sovereignty.

It was an important result of the first-day talks between the six sides, which began in Beijing Wednesday between the DPRK, the United States, China, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Japan, he said.

The second-day talks focused on specific steps to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and there were still some disagreements, he said, adding the first-day talks were pragmatic.

While the United States, Japan and the ROK insisted that the DPRK eliminate all its nuclear programs, Russia and China said the DPRK should abolish its nuclear weapons program, but it would be difficult to scrap its nuclear program for peaceful purpose as the DPRK had not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), he said.

The six sides also discussed the signing of a document. The Russian side hoped that the DPRK would clearly state in the document that it would abolish its nuclear weapons program, and the United States should make clear the security assurance to the DPRK, said Losiukov.

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2004)