Evening Walkthrough With Reporters Prior to to the Six-Party Talks

Christopher R. Hill, Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
St. Regis Hotel
Beijing, China
February 7, 2007

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Hi, good to see you.

QUESTION: How was your meeting with the Chinese?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We just arrived here in Beijing this afternoon. I went off and met with Mr. Wu Dawei, and we talked a little about the schedule.

(To Japanese journalist) Hi, how are you? Get in on the same flight as me?

So we talked a little to Wu Dawei about the schedule, and I think we’ll start tomorrow afternoon. He’s having a lot of bilateral meetings, and in fact I’ll be seeing our Russian counterpart tonight and probably the ROK tomorrow – I guess the Japanese tomorrow morning and the ROK as well. I think the DPRK delegation doesn’t get in until tomorrow afternoon. So, we’ll be busy here. We’ll see if we can make some progress. It’s obviously going to be a difficult few days, but we’re looking forward to it and hoping that we can get something done while we’re here.

QUESTION: Who are you having dinner with tonight?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: The Russian – he’s the new head of the Russian delegation – Losyukov, the former Russian Ambassador in Tokyo.

QUESTION: Just the two parties?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Just the U.S. and Russia, and there are just a few of us I think. So, don’t have much to report to you today.

QUESTION: Do you expect these talks in just a few days to completely…

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I have no idea. As long as it takes, but I think the Chinese have in mind just a few days. I think the idea is maybe to start looking at a text of an announcement on Friday. We’ll see how we do. It’s going to be, I think, an important time for the Six-Party Talks. We certainly would like to see some success, but that’ll depend on what happens in the next couple of days.

QUESTION: Why is China saying just a few days?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: You’ll have to ask them; I’m not a Chinese Government spokesman. I asked them how long they thought, and we’re talking just a few days here. Again, we want to get on to the task of implementing our September statement, a lot of elements in that September statement. We won’t be able to implement them all in this next session, but we’d like to make a solid start. We’d like to make a very big step forward. Six-Party Talks are a very ambitious undertaking involving all the countries of the region, and so we’ll see how we do.

QUESTION: Mr. Hill, you have said earlier that it’s possible that you’ll come back in a couple of weeks. Do you see that happening, how many weeks, two or three weeks?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’m sorry? Did I say…?

QUESTION: There’s been some reports that you said you’ll be back in Beijing.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Back here?

QUESTION: Back here again, for another round very soon in a couple of weeks.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t read about those reports yet, and I certainly don’t remember saying that. No, I’m arriving today and will work as hard as I can in the next couple of days. Okay?

QUESTION: And after that do you see another session soon, after that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Let’s see how we do in the next couple of days. But really, I’m not aware of any additional session. Okay?

QUESTION: What do you think is the first step in implementing….

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think we’re going to – we’ll get all the parties together and see if we can begin to implement this agreement. We will try a first set of measures from the September ’05 statement. But we’re not interested in just having a first set of measures; we’re interested in the complete implementation of the statement. If we can get some measures, then maybe that will create some momentum for the next set of measures.

I want to emphasize that the September ’05 statement is very ambitious. It’s very multilateral. We’re talking about six countries. People who compare this to the Agreed Framework don’t know a lot about this or the Agreed Framework. It’s a different time, a different format, in some respects different issues as well. So, it’s very different.

QUESTION: (Inaudible)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We’re talking about – Again, I’ve resisted getting into the details of what we’re trying to do, but it’s to make progress on denuclearization. That’s the main issue. So I’m going to be out tonight with the Russians, and maybe we can talk tomorrow night. But I don’t think I’ll have anything new for you until I come back from the Six-Party Talks tomorrow night.

QUESTION: What did you get from the consultation with the Chinese?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Just an idea of what the program is, and I think we start tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 with a meeting. And then we go from there.

QUESTION: (Inaudible)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I talked to the Chinese two weeks ago, and they’ve also had some meetings in the meantime with the North Koreans. I think we all share ambitions for this round. But we’d have to see how it goes.

QUESTION: Did the Chinese express any desire for the Americans to make the first step in this next round?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Oh no, we didn’t do any of that. I think we really extended ourselves with heading off to Berlin and sitting down with the DPRK for several sessions. So I think the Chinese realize that, and so I think they’re hopeful that what we did in Berlin and what they’ve done here as well can lead to some progress. It will be easier to talk about this in about two days.

QUESTION: You mentioned the Agreed Framework. In comparisons being made to it, does that create an image problem or an issue?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’m not in charge of image problems. I’m just here to tell you that we’ve got a multilateral process, six nations. If we’re successful in implementing the September 19^th statement, the September ’05 statement, if we can do that over the coming period of time, -- not just this weekend, because that’s just going to be a part of it, if we even get that -- that September ’05 statement really has the promise of doing a lot for the entire region. It’s not just a U.S.-North Korean bilateral. It goes well beyond that and goes to relations among states in the regions and an effort, really, to create some stability that will be felt in this region for we hope decades to come. It’s a very ambitious undertaking.

To get it started, to get the implementation started, is important in that it will be a sign that we are really going to get the whole thing done. And if we stop at just the first tranche, we will not be successful. I don’t think one can judge it just by this first tranche. I think we have to see how it goes, and then we can look back and see if this was the beginning of something important or just a first tranche.

QUESTION: Are you ready to implement the financial sanctions against North Korea?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We’re ready to implement all of the joint statement, all of the September statement. Of course that includes economic and energy. It includes eventual recognition. The most important thing it includes is denuclearization, and so that’s going to be very important to see if North Korea understands that its fundamental obligation in this entire process is denuclearization.

QUESTION: Is it safe to say the U.S. government is willing to provide heavy oil to North Korea?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I did not say that. I didn’t say that. What I said is we’re prepared to implement the September statement. But how that’s done and what elements go in and the first tranche or the second tranche -- we have to work that out. Our reason for being in this is denuclearization, so we need to see progress on that.

QUESTION: (Inaudible)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think they don’t get in until tomorrow afternoon so I think it’ll be difficult to…

QUESTION: (Inaudible)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think they have to have some lunch and check into their hotel like the rest of us. There will be plenty of opportunities to meet them bilaterally, and I’m sure we will. But at this point I don’t have a schedule yet.

QUESTION: Do you know what time in the morning you’ll be leaving the hotel?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I don’t know. I’ll be going to the Embassy to do some reading and things like that. And I think I’ll be seeing the Japanese late morning, but I’m not really sure. I won’t have anything for you in the morning, either. My suggestion is take the day off, and maybe when I come back from the Six-Party meetings tomorrow afternoon and evening, I can tell you how it went.

QUESTION: How many miles have you flown thus far in 2007 on this mission?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I have no idea, absolutely no idea. But I’ve worn out a few pairs of shoes, that’s for sure. But we’ve got a lot more miles ahead of us.

All right, take the rest of the evening off; enjoy Beijing. See you all, good-bye.

Released on February 7, 2007