Beijing
10 July 2008
The U.S. envoy to six nation talks on disarming nuclear North Korea hassaid they reached agreement on the principles for verifying Pyongyang'sdenuclarization. However, the envoy, U.S. Assistant Secretary of StateChristopher Hill, says negotiators still have a lot of work ahead ofthem. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.
After a long first day of resumed negotiations with North Korea, the U.S. envoy told journalists the six sides had an agreement on the mechanism for determining whether or not Pyongyang is hiding any nuclear facilities or materials, but only on principles.
Hesaid they agreed that verification needs to include inspectors visitingnuclear sites, receiving documents, and interviewing North Koreannuclear staff. But, he said they agreed on few more details.
"Thekey thing will be tomorrow when the denuclearization working groupmeets to actually work out the actual protocol. So, they have a lot ofwork ahead of them," said Christopher Hill. "So, I hope they're gettinga good night's sleep, better than we're getting here at midnight."
Hillsaid most of the six delegates, which also include China, South Korea,Japan, and Russia, held bilateral meetings before the heads ofdelegations met Thursday afternoon and into the evening.
He saidon Friday the six parties would also discuss energy and aid to NorthKorea and he hoped they would also discuss the third and final phase ofthe agreed denuclearization that would see North Korea give up all itsnuclear materials.
The six parties are still working through thesecond phase where North Korea is to declare all its nuclear materialsand disable its nuclear facilities in return for aid and politicalincentives.
Pyongyang began destroying its main nuclear reactorand handed in its nuclear materials list last month, but there aresuspicions the declaration is not accurate.
Officials inWashington have long held that North Korea has had a secret uraniumenrichment program in addition to the plutonium program that was usedto produce several nuclear weapons.
Hill said there was some discussion about the declaration and the heads of delegations gave opinions about the degree of its completeness, but he said he was not ready to discuss those details with the media.