U.S. Envoy Foresees Nuclear-Free North Korea in 2008

The top U.S. negotiator to the six-party talks said today he could see North Korea going nuclear-free “soon in the coming year” if it follows through on its pledge to declare its atomic holdings, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 1).

“We’re expecting the first draft declaration … probably in a matter of the next couple weeks,” said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.

“The idea is that we receive that, we have some information on programs we would want to have follow-on discussions on, with the understanding that by the end of the year we will have a complete declaration that everyone would agree is complete,” Hill said in Seoul.

A team of U.S. experts arrived yesterday in North Korea to oversee disablement of the primary facilities at the plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear complex.  The team is expected to reach the site today or tomorrow, Hill said.

U.N. sanctions instituted following North Korea’s October 2006 nuclear test blast would only be lifted once Pyongyang eliminates its nuclear weapons, he said.

“The sanctions are there until the D.P.R.K. gets out of the nuclear business,” Hill said (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Nov. 2).

Hill also said that North Korea would only be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism once it proves it is not involved in such activity, the Associated Press reported.

“We want all countries in the list to be removed but we want them to be removed by showing us that they are no longer engaged in the practice that put them on the list,” he said.

The U.S. negotiator said also that he has told Pyongyang that it must address the matter of its abduction of Japanese citizens in order to be taken off the terrorism list (Miki Toda, Associated Press/Washington Post, Nov. 2).

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