Christopher Hill, top US negotiator to the six-party talks on
Korean nuke issue, said Thursday evening that the second phase of
the talks will end on Friday.
Hill said the US delegation will hold another one-on-one meeting
with the delegation of the North Korea on Friday and leave Beijing
on Saturday morning.
As the United States and the North Korea delegations met for
several times on Thursday, Hill described Thursday as a "long and
difficult day".
"Today was not a day when we registered much progress," said
Hill, hoping to make more progress so "we have to see whether
tomorrow will be a better day."
Hill urged North Korea to engage in discussions on the
denuclearization and implementation of the joint statement struck
in September 2005, instead of financial issues. Under the joint
statement, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear program in
exchange for economic aid and security guarantees.
"It is not the time for them (the North Korea) to talk financial
issues," Hill told reporters at the hotel.
He said he knew North Korea was interested in BDA, short for
Banco Delta Asia, a Macao-based bank, "but we prefer them to have
an even greater interest in denuclearization."
Hill said North Korean delegates have had strict instructions
from their capital that they can not engage officially on the
subject of the six-party talks until they have the BDA issue
resolved."
"I have made very clear I am not a BDA negotiator," Hill
said.
The ongoing talks focus on the implementation of the joint
statement, Financial sanction imposed on North Korea, however, was
one of the key stumbling blocks that had stalled the six-party
talks for the past 13 months.
The talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue involving China,
North Korea, the United States, South Korea, Japan and Russia
resumed on Monday.
(Xinhua News Agency December 22, 2006)