US envoy Christopher Hill held consultations with China yesterday amid concerns North Korea is planning a nuclear test, as Washington works to entice the Stalinist regime back to six-party talks.
The assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific was expected to discuss ways to restart stalled multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions, a US embassy spokeswoman said.
Hill came straight from talks in Seoul and heads to Japan today before returning to South Korea for more discussions, US officials said.
"We are trying to get the six-party process going," Hill told reporters at Beijing airport. "We have got five countries that are there and one that continues to stay away, so as soon as we get the North Koreans to the talks, we look forward to vigorous negotiations."
Hill refused to put a timeframe on the resumption of talks, saying it would be easier to assess the current situation after his meetings with the Chinese side.
Chinese officials said that Hill would meet with three vice foreign ministers.
"China welcomes the visit by Mr. Hill and we are willing to exchange ideas on Sino-US relations, on the North Korean peninsula and other subjects of common interests," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang (
"Our wish is that all relevant parties can resume the talks soon and do more to contribute to peace and stability on the North Korean peninsula," he said in response to a question on North Korea's reported nuclear weapons test.
Three rounds of the talks that include North Korea, the US, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea have been held but the process stalled last June.
Pyongyang has cited alleged US intentions to topple its government as its primary reason for pulling out of the talks, and on Feb. 10 announced that it possessed nuclear weapons.
Earlier this month, North Korea said it had shut down its nuclear power plant at Yongbyon and was preparing to reprocess the plant's spent fuel, a move that could result in the production of enough plutonium to build up to six more nuclear bombs.
En route to Brazil on Monday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington was committed to the six-party talks process, but repeated that the US reserved the right to take its case to the UN Security Council.
"At this point we are committed to a course that we have described, and that is through the six-party talks to convince the North Koreans that there is really only one route to the kind of international respect that they seem to want, and that is the course that we are on," Rice said.
The New York Times reported that Washington might seek a UN resolution empowering all nations to intercept shipments in or out of North Korea that may contain nuclear materials.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
RSS