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US sees no breakthrough in NKorea nuclear talks
Geneva (AFP) March 14, 2008 North Korean and US negotiators failed to reach any breakthrough in talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programme and do not plan to resume negotiations Friday, the chief US negotiator said. "It was good consultations but we are not there yet," Christopher Hill told journalists late Thursday outside the US mission in Geneva after meeting his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan. "We are going to report to our capitals," he said, adding there were no plans to continue the talks on Friday. Earlier in the day, Hill had hinted the talks might be extended, but by late evening he simply said: "We had a long day of discussions, (and) we are in a better position now than when we arrived." The two sides talked about a host of sensitive issues including uranium enrichment and humanitarian assistance, he added. North Korea last year signed a landmark deal to abandon all its nuclear weapons in exchange for badly needed energy and economic aid and major security and diplomatic benefits. But the process -- involving China, Japan, both Koreas, Russia and the United States -- has been stalled since the Stalinist state missed an end-2007 deadline to declare all its nuclear programmes and disable its plutonium plant. Hill insisted earlier that Washington needed a full and frank declaration, and that verbal assurances would not suffice. We cannot be flexible on the fact that we need a complete and correct declaration," Hill said. "I don't think that verbal assurances to the US is really what does it," he added. On Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said he hoped that the meeting would produce some tangible results. "A complete and correct declaration is a key to moving to the next stage rather than when the North will declare its nuclear facilities," Yu said. At stake is a US call for North Korea to clarify its suspected uranium enrichment programme (UEP) and secret nuclear technology transfers to Syria. Pyongyang, which conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006 with plutonium, has denied the existence of a separate nuclear programme based on a UEP and has rejected alleged links with Syria. Hill and Kim met in Beijing last month in an effort to break the deadlock, but no progress was reported at the meeting. Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Seoul's Dongkuk University, said China might have played a role in resuming the US-North Korea talks. "China has more leverage than before over North Korea as the North's chronic food shortages become all the more acute this year amid global food price hikes," Koh told AFP. "And China needs a breakthrough before the summer Olympic Games in Beijing." Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
US nuclear envoy urges full disclosure from NKorea
Washington (AFP) March 12, 2008Chief US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill Wednesday appealed for full disclosure from North Korea as he headed to Geneva for his first talks with his counterpart from the Stalinist nation in a month. |
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