By Jon Herskovitz
SEOUL (Reuters) - Five regional powers will hold talks withNorth Korea from Thursday on ending its atomic weapons plansand verifying an account the secretive state gave in June ofits nuclear programmes, a South Korean envoy said on Tuesday.
The talks, the first in nine months, come after Washingtonresponded to the declaration by the North of its nuclear assetsby starting to take it off a terrorism blacklist. ButWashington also called on Pyongyang to answer lingeringquestion on proliferation and uranium enrichment
"The official schedule for the top envoys' meeting willstart in the afternoon of July 10," South Korean envoy Kim Sooktold reporters before heading to Beijing for the talks amongthe two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Analysts said North Korea may sign off on an inspectionprogramme but will delay further disarmament steps for as longas possible to squeeze out concessions.
"North Korea has no reason to reveal everything it's got,"said Park Young-ho, an analyst at the South's Korea Institutefor National Unification.
"Nuclear armaments are not only North Korea's 'card' toplay strategically at the negotiating table, but they are alsoa tool for Kim Jong-il to stay in power."
Yonhap news agency reported that North Korean nuclear envoyKim Kye-gwan had arrived in Beijing.
In late June, the North presented a long-delayed account ofits nuclear weapons programme that contained information on itsplutonium production, but did little to address U.S. suspicionsof a secret uranium enrichment programme.
North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in October 2006,was required in a disarmament-for-aid deal to make thedeclaration and start taking apart its Soviet-era nuclear plantat Yongbyon by the end of 2007.
It had completed most of the disablement steps by the endof last year. On June 27, in a symbolic move to show itscommitment to the deal, the reclusive state invited in media towitness a controlled blast that brought down the cooling towerat its ageing nuclear reactor.
In return for these steps, the energy-starved North hasreceived heavy fuel oil aid. Once it is removed from the U.S.terrorism list, the communist state will see an end tosanctions that have mostly cut it off from internationalbanking.
The declaration, however, did not address the North'snuclear weaponry and facilities other than Yongbyon, which maycloud the next round of talks in Beijing.
"The U.S. and other players are expecting North Korea todeclare and disable other facilities," said Kim Sung-han, aKorea University international relations professor.
And there may even be problems with what it did declarebecause according to reports in Japanese media, the North saidit produced about 30 kgs (66 lbs) of plutonium while U.S.officials have said they think it is closer to 50 kgs.
(Additional reporting by Kim Junghyun; Editing by ValerieLee)
