U.S. eyes key N. Korea disarmament moves by end-2007

North Korea's parliament chief Kim Yong-nam (L) visits Gobi cashmere factory in Ulan Bator July 21, 2007. The United States hopes the next phase in ending North Korea's nuclear program -- disabling a reactor and declaring all of its past atomic activities -- can be completed this year, the U.S. envoy to nuclear talks said on Monday. (REUTERS/Zeev Rozenberg)


U.S. eyes key N. Korea disarmament moves by end-2007

By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent | July 23, 2007

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States hopes the next phase in ending North Korea's nuclear program -- disabling a reactor and declaring all of its past atomic activities -- can be completed this year, the U.S. envoy to nuclear talks said on Monday.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said he wanted to set a "target time frame" in talks on North Korea's nuclear programs last week but did not push for it to avoid perceptions of failure should technical delays emerge.
But he said several sets of working-level talks in August among North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China and another round of in September could clear the way for implementation of the disarmament-for-aid deal.
"If they want to get it done, it can be done," Hill told reporters in Washington. "Disabling activities are ... not a matter of months, they're a matter of weeks."
The International Atomic Energy Agency said last week North Korea has shut five main nuclear facilities in its Yongbyon complex, completing the first stage of the deal.
He said completing the dismantling and declaration within 2007 would make it possible to meet end-2008 targets for removing North Korea's nuclear equipment weapons, including plutonium stockpiles from which it tested an atomic device last October. The North is to receive energy aid for these actions.
Hill reiterated the U.S. stance that Pyongyang's obligation to declare all of its past nuclear activities under the February 13 disarmament deal "means that not only plutonium but uranium nuclear programs would have to be declared, fully declared."
"All means all, and we're not prepared to look the other way and pretend that a partial declaration is all," Hill said.
DIRTY NUCLEAR BUSINESS
U.S. officials say North Korea confessed to pursuing a secret uranium enrichment program in 2002, but the North later denied this.
North Korea's nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, told reporters at Beijing airport on Saturday Pyongyang would need to consider how far trust had been built before deciding whether to include details of its nuclear weapons program in the declaration, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.
Kim, Hill's counterpart in the talks, was also quoted by China's official Xinhua news agency as saying the North should be provided with light-water reactors in exchange for disabling its Yongbyon facilities.
Hill said he had not seen Kim's reported demand. But noted that a statement that formed the basis of the February 13 nuclear accord called for discussions of a light water reactor "at an appropriate time."
"We have explained that the appropriate time is when the DPRK gets out of this dirty nuclear business that they've been in and returns to the (nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty)," he said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
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