State Dept. announces Hill's Seoul trip, yet to confirm Pyongyang tour

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. State Department Sunday said that Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill will depart for Seoul on Monday, but would not confirm the report that Hill will subsequently travel to Pyongyang over stalled multilateral nuclear talks.

"I can confirm that Assistant Secretary Hill leaves Monday and arrives Tuesday to
Seoul. That's the only information I have at this time," McKellogg Kelly,
spokeswoman for the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, said.
Some reports said the chief U.S. nuclear envoy will fly to Pyongyang from Seoul
in the middle of this week for a possible breakthrough in a six-party
denuclearization deal, which was jeopardized over North Korea's move in recent
weeks to restart its nuclear facilities disabled under the deal.
"It seems that the U.S. State Department has a policy of not officially
confirming the report on Hill's trip to Pyongyang," a diplomatic source here
said. "They appear to refrain from announcing the planned trip to the last minute
because any talks with North Korea involve uncertainties."
Another source said Hill's proposed Pyongyang trip will soon be announced
officially, saying, "You know we cannot do that in secret."
Talk of Hill's tour of North Korea comes one day after North Korean Deputy
Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yon revived Saturday hopes of keeping the nuclear deal
signed by the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
"The Government of the DRPK remains consistent in its position to resolve the
nuclear issue peacefully through dialogue and negotiations," Pak said in his
speech to the general assembly of the United Nations, according to the Website of
the world body.
Pak denounced the U.S. for "using the pretext of verification as an excuse to
hold off on removing the country from its list of state sponsors of terrorism
even after officially declaring that the DPRK is not such a nation." DPRK stands
for the North's official name Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The recent deadlock in the on-and-off six-party talks, which began in 2003, came
as the U.S. refused to remove the North from its terrorism blacklist until the
North presents a complete protocol for verification of its nuclear facilities.
In recent days, North Korea expelled inspectors of the International Atomic
Energy Agency and removed seals and surveillance equipment from its plutonium
processing plant in Yongbyon, north of its capital, Pyongyang, amid concerns that
it is reloading spent fuel rods in the plant for production of weapons-grade
plutonium.
The plant, a 5-megawatt reactor, and other facilities were among those disabled
under the six-party nuclear deal. Washington insists its verification demand is
in accordance with international standards, while Pyongyang says it cannot accept
unfettered surveillance of its sensitive facilities.
Hill's reported visit to Pyongyang comes amid criticism that U.S. hard-liners
pushed for the "far-reaching plan" to grasp North Korea's real intentions on
abandoning of its nuclear ambitions, despite strong opposition from Hill,
considered a dove.
Some U.S. media said the kind of full access Washington wants cannot be accepted
by any sovereign state, noting the U.S. wants "access to any site, facility or
location deemed relevant to the nuclear program, including military facilities."
Under the six-party deal, North Korea is supposed to get 1 million tons of energy
or the equivalent from other partners by the end of October in return for the
North's disabling of its nuclear facilities by that time.
The deal also calls for the U.S. to remove North Korea from its terrorism
blacklist to pave the way for the isolated communist state to get financial
assistance from the International Monetary Fund and other lending institutions.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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