Three-way talks tentatively scheduled for next week between China, North Korea and the United States are a "first step" towards resolving the issue of North Korea's nuclear program on a multilateral basis, according to Philip Reeker, deputy spokesman at the State Department.

"We don't anticipate immediate breakthroughs, but we're looking for progress," Reeker told reporters April 16 at the State Department's daily briefing.

"China and the United States both agree and both are firmly of the policy that the Korean Peninsula must be free of nuclear arms, as do all of North Korea's neighbors," said the deputy spokesman.

"We certainly all agree that we'd continue to press for Japanese and South Korean early inclusion in the talks," Reeker said, "That would be one of our priorities."

MR. REEKER: With respect to North Korea, I would just, first of all, point you back to the comments the Secretary did make in this briefing yesterday in that, as you will well remember, we've made it clear from the very beginning of the situation with North Korea and our concerns about their nuclear weapons program that we believe this was a problem not just between the North Koreans and the United States, but a problem between the North Koreans, the United States and North Korea's neighbors, as well. We wanted to approach this in a multilateral way, and you know quite well the history of our discussions with Japan, with South Korea, with China, with Russia, and with other countries about this.

At our urging, the Chinese, at senior levels, have pressed the North Koreans to agree to multilateral talks, and I think you are quite aware that the South Koreans and the Japanese had, as well. And China proposed talks with its full participation, with the full participation of China, along with the United States, to the North Koreans. And we consulted with our South Korean and Japanese allies at very top levels. They supported these talks with China and with North Korea to get this process of talks started. And I think you've seen public statements from Seoul and from Tokyo in that regard.

So as a preliminary step in this process, the United States, China and North Korea will meet, possibly as soon as next week. I don't have an exact date to announce for you now. The talks will be hosted by China in Beijing, and China will be a full participant in them.

Assistant Secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs James Kelly will lead an interagency delegation from the United States at those talks.

I think you are quite aware that China and the United States both agree and both are firmly of the policy that the Korean Peninsula must be free of nuclear arms, as do all of North Korea's neighbors. We certainly all agree that we'd continue to press for Japanese and South Korean early inclusion in the talks. That would be one of our priorities.

Certainly, I'd like to add that we appreciate the efforts of China, as well as South Korea and Japan, to realize these multilateral talks, and we're going to keep in very close contact with those governments before, during and after those talks.....

(W)e are looking for the early inclusion of Japan and South Korea in the talks. As the Secretary said yesterday, there's one thing that's absolutely clear, and that's that at whatever level the talks start and with whatever attendance in the beginning, it has to ultimately encompass the views and thoughts of all the neighbors in the region. And so after consulting with both Seoul and Tokyo, who supported this to get the process of talks started, we agreed with the Chinese offer to do this.

And so we think that, obviously, the early inclusion of the Republic of Korea and Japan will be essential to reach substantive results that we are seeking. So this will be a beginning. And as I said, we'll look to that, perhaps, as early as next week to start those talks....

Again, I would just point you to what the Secretary said yesterday, what our goals have been. It's been repeated over and over again by the President and the Secretary that we have felt that there's a diplomatic solution to this. This is clearly a multilateral issue. This is not simply a bilateral issue. While there are those that have suggested that the U.S. should act simply unilaterally or have a bilateral approach to this, it's a multilateral issue. And clearly, the views and the concerns of North Korea's neighbors are of utmost importance, as are ours, and so that's why we have pursued our discussion and diplomacy with China, with South Korea, with Japan, with Russia, with Australia, with other countries with whom we've kept in very close touch, because they have an interest in this.

The Secretary noted, as he did yesterday, that there was a statement last week by the South, by the North Koreans suggesting that they were not going to stick to any particular format. And we have said that we were pursuing ways of moving forward on a multilateral basis, and that's now what we're going to do. And we'll do this with China, and this is a first step....

Well, I think our policy has always been the right policy. And we have explained why and have pursued that, and now we are going to move forward to this. We don't anticipate immediate breakthroughs, but we're looking for progress. And we will look forward to this beginning, as I said, as early as next week....

Well, the North Korean nuclear arms program is of interest, as you know, to the entire international community and that is what we'll be pursuing. One of the issues is how, as we've said, discussing with North Korea and with the Chinese, and how North Korea can go about verifiably and permanently dismantling its nuclear weapons capability. So that is an issue for discussion, obviously, and what we will do is keep in very close touch in this process with South Korea and Japan as well, and other countries as well.

In that regard, Secretary Powell spoke yesterday with Japanese Foreign Minister Kawaguchi. He spoke with the South Korean Foreign Minister Yun; he spoke this morning with Foreign Minister Ivanov of Russia, so continuing his regular conversations with those counterparts in terms of our discussions about North Korea....

Obviously, as you indicated, Matt, since we don't have exact dates, I can't get into specific itineraries. But I very much expect, as we have, that we will continue to have very close consultation with South Korea and Japan. And in the past, indeed, Assistant Secretary Kelly has visited those capitals on a fairly regularly basis. So we'll keep you posted when we have a more concrete schedule....

I don't have a schedule, nor am I aware that anything specific is scheduled. But clearly, as we get into pinning down a date for this meeting in Beijing with the Chinese and the North Koreans, then we'll be able to look at other scheduling issues....

Our aim, as I think we have said, as I indicated just now, is the verifiable and irreversible end of the North Korean nuclear arms program. China, a full partner in these talks which will take place, has also made quite clear, if you go back to the Crawford meeting where President Jiang Zemin spoke with President Bush and made quite clear that China's policy and goal was a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula.

So, as we have consistently said, that is one of our key goals, and that will be something we will want to discuss. The aim of these talks is to discuss issues of concern on both sides, clearly. On all sides, we will want to bring this up. But the Chinese have reflected the same concerns we have about the North Korean nuclear weapons program; so have South Korea, Japan, Russia and other countries. And so that continues to be our goal. But as I said, at this point, we need to pin down the details of these talks and we'll see where we go in this first step, which, as I said, we expect to be just that, a first step; and then we would move -- move and press for Japanese and South Korean inclusion, as well....

At these particular talks I can't give you a specific agenda, Mark. I am just not at that point where I can describe for you exactly. This is a first step. But what we have said all along, and what others had reflected in our goal for multilateral talks, is to discuss with North Korea how they can bring about a verifiable and irreversible end to their nuclear weapons program.

So, clearly, that is an issue up there. We have other issues that we have said in the past that we would like to address. And so we would expect that too. And I am sure the North Koreans have issues they want to bring to the table, and the Chinese will as well....

As you know, we have said -- the President has said, Secretary Powell has said that if North Korea fully addresses the concerns of the international community by eliminating its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable and irreversible manner, we would consider pursuing our bold initiative, bold approach.

We can call it a few things. But that is in which we would be prepared to take political and economic steps that would substantially improve the lives of North Korea's people, which we think should be important to the North Koreans. But that's providing that North Korea also addresses our longstanding concerns, which we have talked about in the past, so that continues to be our policy.

What we have sought is this multilateral discussion, this forum in which to have a multilateral discussion about how North Korea can -- can take the right steps in terms of verifiable dismantlement of its nuclear weapons program....

The goal of the talks is what I have described, and that's what we will seek to pursue. We have seen the North Korean statement from last Friday or Saturday about their interest in pursuing this and their agreement to the Chinese offer to have these multilateral talks in Beijing. And that's what we are going to pursue for now....

As I said, I can't give you a specific agenda for these talks. It's a first step. When we get closer to that, then I can talk about it. This is the focus, is on how they can take these steps, our willingness to consider the bold initiative, the bold agenda, the bold approach is still there. We have said that. We have been quite clear about that. But, first, we have to have North Korea fully address the concerns about nuclear weapons by eliminating them.

So we'll be looking at that. And, as I have more details to share on the talks, then I would be happy to do that at a later date....

I think I'd just like to leave it where I said it. We're in very close touch with them. They encouraged us to go ahead and get the process started by doing this with China and North Korea, by having these talks. And we all agreed that we would continue to press for Japanese and South Korean early inclusion as a top priority....

I think at the beginning of the conversation I walked you through the process there. It was something that China and other countries have been urging the North Koreans to agree to multilateral talks. When China made this -- you'll recall that the North Koreans were arguing, or being quite insistent that it was a bilateral issue with the United States, something we have always opposed and said that this is a multilateral thing.

So when the Chinese proposed talks with their full participation and the United States, we consulted with the South Koreans and the Japanese. The North Koreans agreed. The South Koreans and Japanese said we should go ahead and do this, and so it was a mutual agreement....

Our representative will be Assistant Secretary Kelly and an interagency delegation, which would be typical for this. But you'd have to ask those two nations who will represent them in the talks....

It's a multilateral format with China, the United States and North Korea there for talks, each of them as a full partner in the talks. That's the format, that's what was agreed to, and that's what we'll proceed with as soon as we have a firm date pinned down....