U.S. Reports Progress on North Korean Uranium Issue

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said today that work continues to resolve Washington’s suspicions that North Korea has operated a uranium enrichment program for nuclear weapons purposes, Reuters reported (see GSN, Nov. 13).

As part of its denuclearization agreement, Pyongyang is expected before the end of 2007 to provide details of all nuclear operations.  The Washington Post last week reported that North Korea hoped to prove that it never had a secret uranium program operating alongside its known plutonium weapons effort.

“I can say we have made some progress but by no means have we solved the issue up to now,” said Hill, top U.S. negotiator at the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program.

“We are continuing to work with them to resolve the matter.  I don’t think it’s very helpful to get into details at this point.  We are very much in the middle of a process,” he added.  “But I think (North Korea) understands very well that this matter must be resolved to mutual satisfaction.”

The declaration of North Korean nuclear materials and technology is expected in the near future, Hill said.  “We want to make sure this list is very complete and we will be working very closely with the [International Atomic Energy Agency] on that matter,” he said (Mark Heinrich, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Nov. 14).

Meanwhile, the prime ministers of North and South Korea began three days of talks today in Seoul, the Associated Press reported.  Before today premiers from the two nations had not met for 15 years.

The session is part of South Korea’s ongoing reconciliation efforts with its neighbor to the north, which Seoul hopes will aid the denuclearization effort.

The prime ministers are expected to discuss furthering a peace and economic cooperation agreement reached during an October meeting between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (Jae-Soon Chang, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 14).

Elsewhere, six Japanese lawmakers left today for Washington, where they are expected to press the Bush administration against removing North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, Agence France-Presse reported.

Pyongyang has sought to be taken off the list as one reward for its denuclearization efforts.  The move would allow it to receive U.S. economic aid and loans from organizations such as the World Bank.

Tokyo argues that North Korea should resolve the issue of its abductions of Japanese citizens before coming off the list.

“President [George W.] Bush has said the United States won’t ignore the abduction issue,” said senior lawmaker Takeo Hiranuma.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said yesterday that the terrorism list and abduction issue “are not specifically linked.  On the other hand, as Chris (Hill) has said repeatedly, we are very sensitive to this issue for the Japanese government.  It’s an important one.”

Bush is scheduled to meet Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Nov. 14).

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