Chief US nuclear negotiator leaves Pyongyang after good talks
22/6/2007 16:30
Chief US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill concluded his visit and left
in Pyongyang today, saying he had good discussions with DPRK Foreign Ministry
officials.
Hill, also US assistant secretary of state, told Xinhua at the
airport that he was satisfied with his talks with DPRK Foreign Minister Pak Ui
Chun and chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan.
"It's ... a very good
discussion and on the way forward and needs to move forward," said Hill, adding
that "all aspects of the six-party talks process" were discussed during the
visit.
Hill, who arrived here yesterday, is the first high-ranking US
negotiator to visit the country in nearly five years amid the latest US efforts
to solve the denuclearization issue on the Korean Peninsula and restart the
six-party talks.
Hill said he did not have a specific date to restart the
talks, which involve the DPRK, the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and
Russia, and the United States is waiting for China's help.
"I think we're
talking about trying to have a six-party meeting as soon as possible," Hill
said.
Regarding the DPRK's shutting down of its nuclear facilities and the
normalization of US-DPRK ties, Hill said the United States is seeking a
"comprehensive solution."
"We want a comprehensive solution (to the two
issues)" by completely implementing the 2005 September statement of the
six-party talks, he said.
He called the statement a "comprehensive" one,
saying it deals not only with the problems, but with some of the costs of
solving the problems.
Hill's trip came after the resolution of a banking
dispute that had held up progress of the six-party talks, which involve the
United States, the DPRK, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
The DPRK's
ambassador to Russia Kim Yong Che said earlier this week that the funds of US$25
million had arrived at the Central Bank of Russia and will be transferred to the
DPRK foreign trade bank via a Russian bank.
The ambassador reaffirmed the
DPRK's readiness to fulfill all its commitments undertaken at the six-party
talks. The DPRK has insisted that the funds frozen at the bank be returned
before any new negotiations are conducted.
DPRK said last Saturday it had
invited inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to discuss
shutting down the Yongbyon reactor, as required under an accord reached in China
on Feb 13.
Under the February deal, the DPRK was supposed to shut down the
Yongbyon reactor within 60 days in exchange for some 50,000 tons of heavy fuel
oil or equivalent aid.
Xinhua
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