Top US negotiator to the Korean Peninsular nuclear talks
Christopher Hill said in Shenyang Wednesday evening the upcoming
working group meeting on denuclearization is to identity technical
means to disable the nuclear facilities in the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) rather than reach an agreement.
"The purpose (of the meeting) is not so much to negotiate an
agreement today or this week, but rather to identify the technical
procedures that can be used to affect disablement, "said Hill, who
is also the US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific
Affairs, following his bilateral talks with his counterpart from
Republic of Korea (ROK) Chun Yung-woo Wednesday evening. The
two-day meeting, to be started Thursday afternoon, will focus on
the disablement of the DPRK's nuclear facilities and the
declaration of its nuclear programs.
"We hope to have experts around the table...we hope that we can
have an agreement on what type of technical procedures can be used
that we can put together an actual agreement, " said Hill. Hill's
remarks were echoed by Chun, who accompanied Hill to meet the
reporters.
The meeting was on an expert level, which would mainly discuss
the technical procedures for DPRK to declare and finally disable
its nuclear facilities, Chun told reporters, adding that the
meeting is not aimed at reaching an agreement. As for the massive
flood that plagues the DPRK, Hill said it was "a serious
humanitarian issue". "We would like to be part of the efforts to
assist," he said.
Hill said he is expected to meet with Japanese chief envoy to
the six-party talks Kenichiro Sasae, who arrived here late
Wednesday night, and Russian envoy Grigory Berdennikov Thursday
morning.
The Shenyang meeting, one of the five meetings of working groups
under the six-party talks, is part of the efforts to pave the way
for the second session of the sixth round of talks in early
September and a ministerial meeting afterwards.
The chief delegates to the six-party talks agreed in their last
meeting in July to hold meetings of the five working groups in
August. In early August, a working group meeting on economy and
energy cooperation was held at the truce village of Panmunjom on
the Korean Peninsula.
The first meeting of the denuclearization working group was held
in Beijing on March 17 and 18 ahead of the sixth round of
talks.
(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2007)
