Chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill arrived in
Pyongyang on Monday in the latest U.S. effort to inspect the
disablement of the main nuclear facilities in North Korea.
Hill, also U.S. assistant secretary of state, told Xinhua at the
airport that he will focus on the issue of Pyongyang's declaration
on its nuclear program during his second trip here in six
months.
Hill made the trip amid rising doubts about when and how North
Korea will dismantle its nuclear program.
"We are getting to the end of phase two, it's been a very
important phase," said the head of the U.S. delegation at the
six-party talks, adding "we need to make sure it ends very
well."
He is going to brief the North Korean side on "what we're doing
and should do for fulfilling our responsibilities," said Hill, who
was greeted at the airport by a deputy director of North Korean
foreign ministry's America bureau.
"I'm going to be trying to get a briefing on how North Korea is
doing on its responsibility... and looking forward to seeing the
declaration soon," he added.
Hill said he is going to Yongbyon Monday to see how the
disablement is progressing.
North Korea said last Friday that it is fulfilling its
obligation on the disablement of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities
under the agreement reached at the six-party talks.
Regarding the alleged uranium enrichment program and when North
Korea will make a declaration of dismantling its nuclear program,
Hill said "we'll continue to have a discussion on that, with the
understanding that we can resolve this matter by the end of the
year."
"I'm hoping that... as we get through this phase, we have
something we need to get through including a good declaration," he
said.
"We've been working very hard to complete our obligations, and
hope that in a year await which is... the last year of the Bush
administration, we can complete the process," said Hill.
"That will be a very dramatic improvement in the situation on
the Korean Peninsula, and we can begin the process of bringing DPRK
into the international community and completing the normalization
of ties with U.S.," Hill said, adding "that can only be done in the
context of complete denuclearization."
According to a six-party talks joint document released in
Beijing on Oct. 3, North Korea agreed to disable all the existing
nuclear facilities and provide a complete and correct declaration
of all its nuclear programs by the end of this year.
The document said the disablement of the five-megawatt
Experimental Reactor, the Reprocessing Plant (Radiochemical
Laboratory) and the Nuclear Fuel Rod Fabrication Facility in
Yongbyon would be completed by Dec. 31.
(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2007)
