YONHAP NEWS

State Dept. dismisses potential negative effects of CIA briefings on 6PT

   WASHINGTON, April 23 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. State Department on Wednesday dismissed potential negative consequences that may befall the six-party talks following Congressional intelligence briefings on suspected North Korea-Syria nuclear ties, which are to be held later this week.

   Spokesman Sean McCormack dodged questions on how the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) briefings may affect the opinions of legislators, who could decide that they longer want to support the ongoing six-party efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

   Instead of directly addressing concerns, McCormack said, "There are people who have been critical of the six-party framework as a process for quite some time ... I don't expect any briefing they may or may not receive will change their mind one way or the other."
"They are entitled to their opinion. I am not sure, however, that any of those critics have actually come up with any alternative solutions," he told reporters.

   The CIA briefings related to the alleged Pyongyang-Damascus nuclear cooperation are expected to be given on Thursday to Senate and House members of select intelligence committees.

   Congress has been demanding briefings on the North Korea-Syria nuclear proliferation issue, but the U.S. administration has tightly sealed the information, sharing it with only a small handful of people.

   Suspicions first surfaced publicly in September, following Israel's air raid in Syria against a site it said was a nuclear reactor that North Korea was helping to equip.

   Both the North and Syria deny any nuclear ties.

   The closed-door sessions coincide with talks in Pyongyang between a U.S. delegation and North Korean officials aimed at getting Pyongyang to provide a declaration of its nuclear inventory.

   The declaration is a critical part of agreements among South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, which are members of the six-party talks aimed at dismantling Pyongyang's atomic weapons and programs. The process has been stalled since the North missed the Dec. 31, 2007 deadline to give the declaration.

   One of the issues holding up the declaration is Pyongyang's refusal to answer questions about its suspected proliferation to Syria. Satellite photos showed a building in Syria that experts said closely resembled North Korea's own nuclear reactor.

   The U.S. and North Korea are working on a compromise to break the deadlock.

   ldm@yna.co.kr
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