CHINA: U.S. envoy to six-party talks on North Korean nuclear crisis Christopher Hill holds out possibility of agreement to defuse the stand-off

The U.S. negotiator to six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear stand-off held out the possibility on Wednesday (December 20) of agreement soon on initial steps towards coaxing Pyongyang to curtail its nuclear weapons program. The comments by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill were the first hint of significant progress in the talks between the United States, the two Koreas, Russia, Japan and host China that resumed on Monday (December 18) after more than a year's break. And they came despite no breakthrough in talks about U.S. financial curbs on the impoverished communist state. Hill told reporters after a day of meetings, including a bilateral with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, the parties hoped to "get an agreement that would constitute a first batch of elements for implementation" by the end of the week. He said: "All parties, all six parties, have reaffirmed on numerous occasions the commitment to the full implementation of the September agreement, and that is a good thing. But in and of itself it is not enough of a thing. We need to do more." Meanwhile, a U.S. Treasury official, Daniel Glaser, said his talks with North Korean officials on the financial dispute were business-like but failed to hone in on Pyongyang's alleged misdeeds. North Korea boycotted the six-party negotiations for 13 months, protesting at the U.S. financial restrictions. Glaser said the financial negotiations may resume next month in New York. Chun Yung-Woo, the South Korean envoy to the six-party talks, said the countries had "achieved an understanding of the differences in (each of the countries') positions and also the key elements (of the conflict)." Hill said he would meet his North Korean counterpart again on Thursday (December 21). North Korea tested a nuclear device in October, which drew international condemnation and U.N. sanctions. At the start of this week's talks, Pyongyang's envoy demanded the lifting of the U.N. sanctions, as well as U.S. curbs aimed at crippling what Washington regards as its "illicit financing" sources, before it would agree to dismantle its nuclear programmes.

ITN Source | December 21, 2006

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