hankyoreh

WASHINGTON-Top U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said that the 50 kilograms of plutonium which is estimated to have been produced by North Korea will be a major barrier to the progress of the six-party talks. But he was optimistic that the task could be accomplished within the year, at which time the United States would be willing to begin moving forward with the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. He added, however, that unless the North decides to scrap its plutonium, the United States will not normalize relations with the communist country.

Speaking in Australia at the Sydney Institute on October 16, Hill said that if North Korea did not abandon its plutonium, the United States would not be able to provide economic assistance, as outlined in a denuclearization agreement reached in February, and the North will not be permitted to join international organizations.

The February accord was reached under the umbrella of the six-party talks that include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States and entails that the North declare and dismantle its nuclear facilities in exchange for economic aid and diplomatic concessions.

Hill said that the North’s nuclear facilities were likely to be completely disabled the by the end of the year and that the North would abandon the 50 kilograms of plutonium which it is known to have already produced.

If North Korea succeeds in taking this step, Hill added that peace talks for the Korean Peninsula could commence and that it would ultimately be possible to sign a peace treaty.

Regarding the North’s controversial uranium enrichment program, Hill said that there was good reason to believe that the North would abandon whatever programs it has by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, a nuclear team led by Sung Kim, director of the Korea desk at the U.S. State Department, is in Pyongyang to discuss the process of disabling the main plutonium-producing reactor and two other key nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, North Korea’s nuclear complex. In connection with the team’s visit, Hill said in an interview with Australia’s public ABC-TV that the North had so far been cooperative.