Washington’s chief US nuclear envoy left North Korea yesterday after spending an extra day there to try to persuade Pyongyang to resume dismantling its nuclear program.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill left his Pyongyang hotel shortly before 2pm and was expected back in Seoul late yesterday afternoon, after three days in North Korea for talks with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, at the country’s invitation.
“Now we’ll see what these discussions yield,” US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington on Thursday, adding that he had no details about the discussions.
Hill is to brief South Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Sook about the trip. Japan’s nuclear envoy, Akitaka Saiki, also was scheduled to fly to Seoul yesterday.
North Korea began disabling a nuclear reprocessing plant in Yongbyon, but abruptly stopped in mid-August, citing Washington’s refusal to remove it from a terrorism blacklist. The US maintains that the agreement required North Korea to submit to a thorough verification of its nuclear accounting — a demand Pyongyang rejected.
North Korea’s defiance comes amid concern about authoritarian leader Kim Jong-il’s health. Kim, 66, has not been seen in public since he reportedly suffered a stroke in August.
Hill phoned on Thursday from Pyongyang to say he was staying in North Korea for another day but did not provide any details due to concerns about the security of communications, McCormack said.
He said Hill did not present Pyongyang with any proposals for substantive changes to the verification scheme, but rather suggestions on how the “choreography” or timing of the process could be adjusted, perhaps by involving North Korea’s main ally, China.
“There have been various plans in the past where instruments, declarations, et cetera, have been deposited with Beijing and then shared subsequently with the other five parties, while other commitments from the five parties move forward,” McCormack said.
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