U.S. wants written agreement on taking samples from nuke sites: Hill

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- U.S. chief nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said Tuesday he will discuss reaching a written agreement on taking samples from North Korea's nuclear facilities when he meets with his North Korean counterpart in Singapore later this week.
"We don't want a situation where our scientists arrive, and they want to do some
scientific procedures, and then there's a big disagreement on what scientific
procedures they are allowed to do," Hill told reporters at Japan's Narita
Airport, according to a transcript released by the State Department.
Hill, assistant secretary of state, flew into Tokyo for a tripartite meeting with
his South Korean and Japanese counterparts Wednesday to discuss preparations for
another round of the six-party nuclear talks slated tentatively for Monday in
Beijing.
"So that means that -- in order to avoid those disagreements and
misunderstandings -- we want to get everything as clear as possible in the
six-party head of delegation meeting," he said. "Now whether that takes one
document, two documents, three documents, I don't know. The important point is to
make it clear, so that there are no misunderstandings."
Hill said he is flying to Singapore for another meeting with North Korean Vice
Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan Thursday.
Hill's Asian tour is seen as a last-minute effort by the outgoing Bush
administration to salvage the difficult nuclear disarmament talks in its waning
weeks amid concerns that North Korea is waiting for the incoming Barack Obama
administration to take office on Jan. 20.
Such pessimism appeared recently as North Korea denied the U.S. claim that
Pyongyang had agreed to allow sampling from its nuclear complex to verify the
list of its nuclear facilities and programs it presented in June.
Some analysts said the denial is tantamount to a refusal to deal further with the
Bush administration.
Hill insisted that the agreement on the sampling was reached in October -- but
without any documentation -- when he visited Pyongyang intent on a breakthrough
in the nuclear talks, which began in 2003.
Based on the agreement in October, Washington delisted the North as a state
sponsor of terrorism. That drew criticism that the administration accepted a weak
agreement in order to make the North Korean nuclear issue a major foreign policy
achievement.
Hill and other U.S. officials have hoped to complete the second phase of the
North Korean nuclear deal before January so the Obama administration could start
from there after inauguration.
Obama has said he will continue the six-party talks but will complement them with
more direct negotiations.
"Our point is that we need to get to the verification phase, which is a phase
which takes place after we have completed disabling," Hill said. "Much of it will
have to take place after we complete disabling because you can't be verifying a
reactor until the reactor is completely de-fueled."
Disabling of North Korea's nuclear facilities is the second phase of a nuclear
deal signed by the six parties, the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and
Russia. In exchange, other parties to the multilateral talks are to provide one
million tons of heavy fuel or equivalent aid to the North.
The third and last phase aims for dismantlement of all the North Korea's nuclear
facilities and programs in return for a massive economic aid and diplomatic
recognition by Washington and Tokyo.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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