Washington – The drive for a six-nation agreement to end North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program is picking up speed, but chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said Tuesday, “There is no agreement yet.”
Hill said the United States and its partners have offered North Korea a package deal, including civilian energy supplies and a U.S. promise not to attack, but were divided on whether North Korea should be permitted to retain a reactor to develop civilian nuclear energy.
“It is not a show-stopper,” Hill said, implying the issue was unlikely to derail the pursuit of an agreement. In the U.S. view, “we have a set of measures that make it unnecessary for them to have a nuclear program,” the assistant secretary of state said.
Still, Hill said the idea of North Korea having a civilian nuclear reactor has the support of South Korea and Russia, provided North Korea permits international inspection of its facilities.
The negotiations, now in recess, have ranged far and wide, including discussion of North Korea’s human-rights record and prospects for security arrangements throughout the area, he said.
The idea of North Korea gaining diplomatic relations with the United States has received brief mention, along with the possibility of a peace treaty to officially end the Korean War of a half- century ago, Hill said.
At the same time, he raised concerns about North Korea’s intentions to enhance its nuclear capabilities and said it had made a number of purchases of technology that needed to be explained. He provided no details except that the technology was not bought from a network headed by Pakistan’s most prominent nuclear scientist, A.Q. Kahn.
“In our view, the North Koreans have got to get out of this business and stop it,” Hill said.
In a quickening diplomatic pace, Hill scheduled dinner Tuesday with a senior Chinese official, South Korea’s foreign minister had a meeting and dinner planned with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and a Chinese delegation is due to go to Pyongyang this week to set a date for a resumption of talks.
Also, Hill said, U.S. and North Korean diplomats will hold another meeting in New York later this week, and he will meet with a senior Japanese official Thursday in Washington.
