U.S. - North Korea

Envoys meet in Beijing to build on progress toward peace on Korean Peninsula

By David I. McKeeby
Staff Writer
July 9, 2008

Washington -- As envoys to the Six-Party Talks meet in Beijing to build on recent progress in stabilizing the Korean Peninsula, verifying North Korea’s nuclear claims will top the agenda, says Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.

"Verification will probably take longer than just a few days. It will be weeks, and maybe months," Hill told reporters in Beijing July 8.

China, which chairs the Six-Party process, announced earlier in the day that representatives from Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States would meet July 10 -- the first full meeting of the group since late 2007.

"I think it’s an important week because we really are shifting back toward the Six-Party format" after several months of one-on-one and small group consultations in Washington and across the region, Hill said. (See "Six-Party Talks Setting Stage for New Diplomacy in Northeast Asia.")

Under phase two of an October 2007 agreement, North Korea began disabling its nuclear program in exchange for humanitarian aid and security guarantees.  The meeting follows two major steps forward for the process: Pyongyang’s June 26 report detailing its past nuclear activity, and the demolition of the main cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, where it claimed to have produced 37 kilograms of plutonium for its nuclear weapons, such as the device it tested in October 2006.  (See "North Korea Nuclear Declaration Step in Right Direction, Says Bush.") 

In Beijing, Hill said, Six-Party envoys will begin the long process of confirming North Korea’s declaration by working out a "verification regime" that will require a thorough review of 18,000 pages of supporting documents supplied by Pyongyang, visits to its nuclear facilities, and interviews with North Korean nuclear scientists to find out exactly how much weapons-grade plutonium was produced. (See "Diplomacy Is Working on North Korea, Secretary Rice Says.")

"We have to figure out in detail how the site visits will take place," Hill said.  "We have to figure out, in addition to the six parties, what other countries might want to be involved in this." 

If the declaration can be fully verified, Six-Party envoys will move the process toward its third and final stage: full dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear infrastructure.

Hill met with North Korean diplomats ahead of the Six-Party meeting, where they discussed the upcoming Six-Party round as well as further progress toward disabling the Yongbyon complex, shipments of U.S. food aid and other issues.

"There are still a lot of details," Hill said. "I don’t think there are any surprises.  But you know, it’s never over until it’s over in the Six-Party process, so let’s see how we do."