CHINA: Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill suggests six party talks agree a disarmament timetable for North Korean denuclearisation

Record ID: 575006

  • Title: CHINA: Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill suggests six party talks agree a disarmament timetable for North Korean denuclearisation
  • Date: 17th July 2007
  • Summary: (W3)BEIJING, CHINA (JULY 17, 2007) (REUTERS) U.S. CHIEF ENVOY TO SIX-PARTY TALKS CHRISTOPHER HILL BRIEFING REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. CHIEF ENVOY TO SIX-PARTY TALKS CHRISTOPHER HILL SAYING: "I think also in all three conversations we've talked about what the second tranche of actions is going to look like, namely the disablement and declaration phase and fuel oil and any other considerations that might come up. So I tried to advance the idea that we need an overall time frame for that second phase, my own view is that we ought to try to wrap this up in calendar year '07, so we get on to the end game in '08." REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. CHIEF ENVOY TO SIX-PARTY TALKS CHRISTOPHER HILL SAYING: "I think we've always had the view that you first need to have a declaration to know what it is you are going to have disabled. But I don't think like to get into a situation where if we don't nail down the declaration, then we can't start any disablement. So I want to have a little flexibility on that. Generally speaking, we are talking about declaration and once we define what needs to be… what is declared, that helps define what needs to be disabled." REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. CHIEF ENVOY TO SIX-PARTY TALKS CHRISTOPHER HILL SAYING: "I think sort of a clear work plan ahead and a clear understanding of how the working groups will contribute to how we are going to sequence the second phase so that we can move quickly and get through that. I think the DPRK has an incentive to try to get moving on to this next phase, because they like to keep the fuel oil coming. And we have a great incentive to move because it gets us beyond just shutdown to disablement." HILL WALKING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 1st August 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Reuters ID: LVA5KFOWPT5X65N05AUT4IJDIXGP
  • Story Text: Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill struck an optimistic note on Tuesday (July 17) ahead of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme, suggesting they could settle on a disarmament timetable in coming days.
    The negotiators, fresh from securing a shutdown of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility, gathered in Beijing with the much harder task of coaxing Pyongyang to give up a trove of atomic secrets long guarded as vital for its survival.
    The envoys sit down to two days of talks on Wednesday.
    Hill told reporters he had advanced the idea to the North Koreans of a timetable that would end the second phase of disarmament by the end of the year.
    Such a phase would involve North Korea's declaration of its nuclear activities and a full disabling of Yongbyon.
    "My idea is that we try to wrap this up in calendar year '07," he told reporters.
    He said he could not speak for the North Koreans but that he felt they were reasonably receptive.
    Yongbyon produces material that can be turned into weapons-grade plutonium and in February North Korea agreed to close it in return for 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, which began moving there from South Korea last week.
    North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia will now begin to explore how to scrap the Yongbyon complex and terminate North Korea's nuclear weapons potential.
    The Democratic Republic of North Korea (DPRK) shut down Yongbyon once fuel oil reached the country from South Korea last week under terms of a six party agreement reached in February.
    The third phase of Hill's plan would require North Korea handing over fissile nuclear materials and other atomic arms infrastructure.
    Hill said he believed North Korea was willing to move forward with negotiations in return for more fuel oil.
    "I think the DPRK has an incentive to try to get moving on to this next phase, because they like to keep the fuel oil coming," he said.
    After throwing out International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in late 2002, North Korea quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) enforces.
    In 2005, Pyongyang declared it had nuclear arms, and last October it alarmed the world with its first test detonation.
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