29 August 2007

North Korean Nuclear Disablement, Program Declaration Can Overlap

Assistant Secretary Hill to meet with North Korean counterparts in Geneva

By Stephen Kaufman
USINFO Staff Writer

Washington -- The “elements” are in place for North Korea to make a full declaration of its nuclear programs and to achieve the disablement of its Yongbyon nuclear facility, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill said ahead of talks with his North Korea counterparts in Geneva scheduled for September 1-2.

“I think we have a basis for moving forward,” Hill told reporters in Washington August 29 prior to the convening of the U.S.-North Korea working group established under the February 13 agreement that aims to rid the Korean peninsula of all nuclear programs.

The agreement was drawn up by North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, the countries participating in the Six-Party Talks process.

Hill said some of the nuclear disablement activities could occur even before the full declaration of programs is made, because some of North Korea’s nuclear programs are already known.

He described the process of obtaining both outcomes as “overlapping” and “sequential,” and defined disablement as a state in which it would be “a very inconvenient and hopefully a very expensive thing” to bring North Korea’s nuclear facilities back online.  Hill also said North Korea's partners will “need clarity in particular on a program that is not yet acknowledged, which is uranium enrichment,” when they see North Korea's declaration of its programs.

The assistant secretary said he did not want to predict the outcome of the process, but expressed his belief that “we have the elements to come to a full declaration and a disablement and a disablement that satisfies our definition of disablement.”

Among the topics likely to be discussed in Geneva is the upcoming Six-Party Talks plenary session, “which we expect to take place some time in early September.”  Hill said the goal of the session will be to obtain an agreement on implementing the next phase of the February 13 agreement, which involved the disablement and declaration on the part of the North Koreans and provision of heavy fuel oil on the part of the United States and the other parties.

The U.S.-North Korea working group likely also will discuss North Korea’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States.

“[W]e're prepared to begin the process of removing them. It's a process that depends on working with them and to explore some of the issues that led them to go on that list,” he said.

The goal of the bilateral working group is normalized relations between the two countries.  However, Hill said that eventuality is tied to the larger outcome of the Six-Party Talks process. 

“[W]e … cannot be in a position of normalizing relations with a nuclearized North Korea, and we won't do that,” he said. “[B]ut within that, we can continue to work on the process of normalization. So that's a sort of formal bilateral mechanism.”

The assistant secretary said the Japan-North Korea bilateral working group will convene during the week of September 3, and he underscored the importance of achieving an agreement concerning the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea.

“[O]bviously this is an important issue for Japan. And because it's an important issue for Japan, it's an important issue for us,” he said.

Following the plenary session, the six parties are expected to convene a ministerial-level meeting.  Hill said he did not want to speculate about the timing, “but October sounds reasonable to me.”