Chief US negotiator to the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue Christopher Hill said yesterday the disablement of DPRK's main nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, scheduled to be completed by year end, is going well.

"The disablement is going fine...there is disabling activity going on all three sections of the facility there: the fuel fabrication facilities, the reactor and the re-processing center, "Hill said after arriving in Beijing yesterday afternoon following a three-day visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"They have done a lot of work in preparation of discharging the fuel in the reactor...which will enable the disabling to be of real value," he said.

Hill noted that China has been very helpful in assisting the disablement.

According to a six-party talks joint document released in Beijing on Oct. 3, the DPRK agreed to disable all the existing nuclear facilities and provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs by the end of this year.

The document said the disablement of the five-megawatt Experimental Reactor, the Reprocessing Plant (Radiochemical Laboratory) and the Nuclear Fuel Rod Fabrication Facility in Yongbyon would be completed by Dec. 31.

Hill said the DPRK is "pretty close to providing a declaration" and the atmosphere of the meeting with his DPRK counterpart Kim Kye Gwan was very cooperative.

"The declaration should be complete and correct...It should include all the facilities, materials and programs that the DPRK has had in the nuclear area," Hill said.

Hill said he will leave China early tomorrow, after meeting with Wu Dawei, head of the Chinese delegation to the six-party talks, today.

He dismissed chances for a six-party talk to convene by the end of this year, citing holiday reasons.