U.S., N. Korea agree to get six-way talks moving 'very soon': U.S. negotiator

Posted on : 2007-01-19 21:12 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST

Washington's top nuclear negotiator said Friday that North Korea is "absolutely" prepared to return to international negotiations on dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

The rare positive outlook follows three days of talks between the U.S. negotiator, Christopher Hill, and his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan in Berlin, during which, according to Hill, the sides agreed to hold a new round of the six-way nuclear talks in the very near future.

"We certainly had an agreement on getting the six-party talks going soon," Hill told reporters, emerging from a meeting and dinner with his South Korean counterpart Chun Young-woo at a Seoul hotel.

But he said no date has yet been set for the start of a new round, saying that needs to be consulted among all six parties participating in the nuclear talks.

The U.S. negotiator arrived here earlier in the day for a two-day visit. The nuclear negotiations also involve South Korea, Japan, Russia and host China.

Hill said he and the North Korean negotiator also agreed to continue talks on Washington's financial sanctions on the impoverished North, which had prevented the communist nation from returning to the nuclear disarmament talks for over 13 months.

The Beijing-based nuclear negotiations resumed late last month, but yielded little progress, as North Korean negotiators refused to discuss their country's nuclear weapons program while demanding the U.S. to first remove the financial sanctions.

The U.S. negotiator said he and Kim had agreed on a number of issues, particularly what was important to get done at the next round of the nuclear disarmament talks.

"Certainly the discussions with the DPRK were very useful," Hill said earlier at Incheon International Airport, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "What we now need to do is see how those discussions can be folded into the six-party process."

Hill was also in a meeting with South Korea's Foreign Minister Song Min-soon in Seoul to brief him about the meeting with the North Korean negotiator. The meeting yielded little details.

An unidentified spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry earlier confirmed the U.S.-North Korea meeting in Berlin in a statement carried by the country's Korean Central News Agency.

"The talks took place from Jan. 16 to 18 in a positive and sincere atmosphere, and a certain agreement was reached there," the North's Foreign Ministry official said.

Hill agreed the talks were positive.

"Certainly in discussing the issues and discussing what is important to get done (during the next round of the nuclear talks), we certainly agreed with my DPRK counterpart on a number of issues," Hill told reporters after his meeting with the South Korean foreign minister and Chun.

He earlier said at the airport that he was not sure what the North's Foreign Ministry spokesman was referring to as an agreement.

A South Korean official, speaking anonymously, later quoted him as telling Chun that his discussions with the North Korean were very substantive and specific.

North Korea agreed in September 2005 to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for economic and diplomatic benefits, including normalization of ties with the United States.

Hill said many objectives, including the normalization of ties, are included in the 2005 six-party accord, but will only be possible after the communist nation dismantles its nuclear weapons program.

"The task is to get moving on denuclearization, and with denuclearization a lot of things will not only be possible, but actually much easier," he said.

"Without denuclearization, we can't get going on a lot of things we talked about," he added.

When asked when he expected the nuclear talks to reopen, Hill said, "Again, it's up to the Chinese, but I would think we would have the six-party meeting pretty soon."

Hill said he hopes the talks will reconvene before Lunar New Year's day, which falls on Feb. 18.

He will leave for Tokyo Saturday for talks with his Japanese counterpart in the nuclear talks, Kenichiro Sasae. He will be in Beijing on Sunday for further consultation with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei.

Seoul, Jan. 19 (Yonhap News)

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