Remarks by Christopher Hill Following lunch with Kim Kye Gwan

Remarks by Christopher Hill
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Following lunch with Kim Kye Gwan
Ritz Carlton Hotel, Beijing
February 9, 2007



ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  We had some lunch.  I hope you had some lunch.  We talked about the Chinese draft and our views of it and their views of it and whether we can find our way to agreeing to it.  This is -- I think I told some of you last night -- this is the difficult time when you’re trying to talk about words on a paper and making sure you have the same understanding of the words.  

I think we can be cautiously optimistic, but don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch.  I’ll know better a little later on.

QUESTION:  Ambassador Hill, through your discussions at lunch, are you becoming increasingly confident that you’ll be able to achieve some significant objectives at this round, including the disablement of North Korean [inaudible].

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  I think the lunch is just part of an ongoing process of consultation that we’ve had.  This morning we had a lengthy head of delegations meeting. Opinions were expressed around the room, sometimes divergent opinions on the Chinese draft.  So the idea of the lunch, which was scheduled actually last night, was to have some further discussion, which we did.  I shared my views on what I think needs to be included in the draft.  Certainly the DPRK representatives had their views.  I’m going to go see the Chinese chairman, Wu Dawei, right now and talk to him about what I think needs to be in that draft.  I know Mr. Wu is consulting with all of the parties.  And so, it’s about three o’clock now, and let’s see if we can make some progress this afternoon….

QUESTION:  What is your expectation for the draft?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  What do you mean my expectation?

QUESTION:  What do you want to be in the draft?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  Well, you know, we have some views on the need for specific elements.  I’ll be happy to get into those once the draft is published.

QUESTION:  What is the biggest difference of opinion about the current draft between the delegations?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  I’m sorry.  I don’t want to get into that.  There are some differences of views among the various delegations.  

QUESTION:  Did you discuss economic and possible energy assistance to North Korea?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  We discussed all aspects of the various consultations of what we need in this first step.  Everything we discussed is already included in the September statement.  So there’s nothing new.  The only issue is which issues could be --  I think you’re missing some news over there (laughter).  The only issue is which elements from September can be brought into this February draft, and which elements would have to wait until a March or April process.  

Okay?

QUESTION:  Why did you decide to meet the North Koreans here?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  Just for a change of scenery.  We’ve spent a lot of time at the Diaoyutai.  We just wanted to try a different restaurant.  By the way, this is an excellent restaurant.  I recommend it.

QUESTION:  Did you talk about other topics with them?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  Again, I don’t want to talk about the specific issues that we talked about, but I can assure you that we had a comprehensive discussion about major issues that all the countries face.

QUESTION:  What’s your impression of how the North Korean plan to go about the implementation?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  They’ll have to speak for themselves, but I think that there’s a realization that the first step that we’re looking at is a big first step.  To some extent, it’s going to require a little bit of a jump for them.  So I think they just want to be sure they understand what’s expected of them.

I’ve got to go see Chairman Wu Dawei.  I don’t want to keep him waiting.  See you later.

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