23 September 2008

United States Says Talks Will Resume on North Korea

Six-party process has had difficult moments in the past

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill

By Merle D. Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — International efforts to convince the North Koreans to give up their fledgling nuclear weapons development program have hit a rough spot, but there is still time to work this issue, says the chief U.S. negotiator, Ambassador Christopher Hill.

“The six-party process has had its difficult moments in the past, and we're certainly experiencing another one now,” Hill said on September 22 before the opening of the 63^rd U.N. General Assembly in New York.

North Korea announced in August that it was stopping the dismantlement of its Yongbyon nuclear reprocessing facility.  And then on September 22, North Korea asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to remove seals and surveillance cameras from the Yongbyon facility, according to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei at the IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna, Austria.

Hill, who is the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would be meeting over the following week with her counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea and Russia while at the United Nations to discuss possible actions ahead with North Korea.  Collectively, these countries make up the six-party negotiations process.

“Because of the disablement, we have time — that is, time ahead to continue to work this issue,” Hill said.  “We don't expect any sort of dramatic developments, you know, in a matter of days.”

As part of an incentive package, the United States had agreed to remove North Korea from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism if the government would submit a verification plan meeting six-party demands.  The possible removal from the state sponsors list, which is maintained by the State Department, is part of incentives that include various forms of economic assistance and other trade, along with lifting of the sanctions that accompany placement on the terrorism list.

“We need to get through a verification protocol so that the aim of a verifiable declaration is actually achieved,” Hill said.  “The North Koreans provided a declaration, but unless it's verifiable we only really have half a loaf here.”

North Korea began disabling its nuclear program in exchange for humanitarian aid and security guarantees.  Pyongyang provided a June 26 report detailing its past nuclear activity, and the demolition of the main cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, where it claimed to have produced 37 kilograms of plutonium for its nuclear weapons, such as the device it tested in October 2006.

“Clearly, it's a difficult moment for the six-party process and it's a time we're really going to have to work very closely with our other partners,” Hill added.