The six-party talks group the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. In September 2005 the North vowed in a six-party joint statement to scrap its nuclear weaponry in exchange for aid, diplomatic benefits and talks on a permanent peace pact for the peninsula. In April, angry at international censure of its long-range rocket launch, the North declared the six-party talks "dead".
(AFP/Graphic)