ID :
22495
Fri, 10/03/2008 - 15:33
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/22495
The shortlink copeid
U.S. nuclear envoy to brief S. Korean, Japanese officials on N. Korea trip
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Yonhap) -- Chief U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill will separately meet with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul later Friday after he returns from a three-day trip to North Korea aimed at saving a multilateral disarmament deal, South Korean officials said.
Hill traveled overland to Pyongyang on Wednesday to meet with his North Korean
counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, and other officials on a mission to stop the country
from reviving its atomic weapons drive.
His trip, originally scheduled to end on Thursday, was extended by another day,
prompting hopes for progress.
After his return to Seoul via the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, Hill
plans to separately brief his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Kim Sook
and Akitaka Saiki, on the results of his trip, an official at the Foreign
Ministry said, requesting anonymity.
"There is no plan for the three to meet together at the moment," the official
said without elaborating.
From Seoul, Hill, who also serves as assistant secretary of state for East Asian
and Pacific affairs, is scheduled to fly to Beijing on Saturday to meet Chinese
Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, who chairs the six-way talks aimed at
denuclearizing North Korea, according to the same South Korean officials.
Tensions have mounted since Pyongyang moved to resume its nuclear activity in
recent weeks, apparently in protest at Washington's refusal to take it off the
terrorism sanctions list. The U.S. insists that the North must first agree to an
intrusive verification protocol on its nuclear declaration.
The North announced in mid-August a halt in the slow-going disablement of its
nuclear facilities in Yongbyon under a 2007 aid-for-denuclearization deal with
the U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
Late last month, North Korea began backtracking from the deal, telling the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it was reactivating a facility in
Yongbyon, where weapons-grade plutonium can be extracted from spent fuel rods.
South Korean intelligence sources said that the North may also be restoring its
atomic weapons test site and preparing for another test of long-range missiles.
They cited increased activities in the areas as evidence.
North Korea's real intentions are still unclear, but many analysts view the
measures as a bargaining tactic.
They point out that North Korea must be fully aware that U.S. spy satellites are
closely monitoring those facilities. The North, in fact, has allowed IAEA
inspectors and U.S. monitors to stay at Yongbyon so that they can witness what is
going on there.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Yonhap) -- Chief U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill will separately meet with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul later Friday after he returns from a three-day trip to North Korea aimed at saving a multilateral disarmament deal, South Korean officials said.
Hill traveled overland to Pyongyang on Wednesday to meet with his North Korean
counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, and other officials on a mission to stop the country
from reviving its atomic weapons drive.
His trip, originally scheduled to end on Thursday, was extended by another day,
prompting hopes for progress.
After his return to Seoul via the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, Hill
plans to separately brief his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Kim Sook
and Akitaka Saiki, on the results of his trip, an official at the Foreign
Ministry said, requesting anonymity.
"There is no plan for the three to meet together at the moment," the official
said without elaborating.
From Seoul, Hill, who also serves as assistant secretary of state for East Asian
and Pacific affairs, is scheduled to fly to Beijing on Saturday to meet Chinese
Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, who chairs the six-way talks aimed at
denuclearizing North Korea, according to the same South Korean officials.
Tensions have mounted since Pyongyang moved to resume its nuclear activity in
recent weeks, apparently in protest at Washington's refusal to take it off the
terrorism sanctions list. The U.S. insists that the North must first agree to an
intrusive verification protocol on its nuclear declaration.
The North announced in mid-August a halt in the slow-going disablement of its
nuclear facilities in Yongbyon under a 2007 aid-for-denuclearization deal with
the U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
Late last month, North Korea began backtracking from the deal, telling the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it was reactivating a facility in
Yongbyon, where weapons-grade plutonium can be extracted from spent fuel rods.
South Korean intelligence sources said that the North may also be restoring its
atomic weapons test site and preparing for another test of long-range missiles.
They cited increased activities in the areas as evidence.
North Korea's real intentions are still unclear, but many analysts view the
measures as a bargaining tactic.
They point out that North Korea must be fully aware that U.S. spy satellites are
closely monitoring those facilities. The North, in fact, has allowed IAEA
inspectors and U.S. monitors to stay at Yongbyon so that they can witness what is
going on there.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
