Evening Walkthrough With Reporters at the Six-Party Talks - 02.09.07

Christopher R. Hill, Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Remarks at St. Regis Hotel
Beijing, China
February 9, 2007

QUESTION: How did it go today and what was the North Korean reaction to your proposals?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, I’d say we had a good first day today. (To journalist whose cell phone rings) You want to get that? I think we had a good first day today. First of all the Chinese did a terrific job of organizing the thing and getting us all together. We had a head of delegation meeting and then the plenary session. Normally, we’d have more time for bilateral discussions, but there was some bilateral discussion. I had an opportunity to talk to Kim Gye Gwan a couple of times during in these sessions.

I would say the delegations are coalescing around some of the themes that we believe should be the basis for a first step in implementing the September agreement. We expect the Chinese to get these down on a paper and distribute them to the delegations, probably if not later tonight then sometime tomorrow, early tomorrow. We hope we can achieve some kind of joint statement here. We’ll have to see if we actually get that. And if we do, as I said, it would be a first step in terms of implementing the September statement.

I stressed before and I will say it again, our September statement – the September 2005 statement -- is a very ambitious document. We are dealing not only denuclearization, but we are dealing some of the problems in the region, some of the problems in the region caused by the region’s difficult history. This type of ambitions undertaking hasn’t been tried before.

So we got a lot of work to do, but we think if we can get this first good step, it will give us some momentum to get to the next step and the step after that. So we will have to see how we do. But I must say today was a pretty good first day.

QUESTION: From the indications of the first day, does it meet your expectations coming into this round?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes, they did. I have low expectations usually, but it did meet expectations. You know, the proof of these things is always at the end when you have some kind of agreement. But certainly the discussion today among all six parties sort of pointed us into the direction of some elements that we can agree with. I think the Chinese are, as always, working very hard and probably going to turn this out into a draft of a joint statement.

QUESTION: You’ve said things have to change on the ground. What’s likely to change on the ground?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, the idea is that these would be a set of actions and not a set of pledges -- but really a set of actions that would have to be taken in a finite amount of time. Those actions would affect the situation on the ground.

QUESTION: Did you say you were expecting a draft to be out tomorrow?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes, it is getting awfully late tonight but probably by tomorrow morning.

QUESTION: You said that the parties were coalescing around certain themes. Can you elaborate on what exactly did you talk about?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: You know, we talked about a number of themes that come from September statement, but I don’t want to get into the precise identification of them. You will know soon enough, sometime tomorrow.

QUESTION: Do you think you could get bogged down on North Korea’s demand that the U.S. lift financial sanctions?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, I think we have an understanding of the issues there. I don’t want to elaborate at this point, but we were able to make progress in discussing denuclearization in a way that we were not able to do in December. Again, I don’t want to elaborate too much except that— (Cell phone rings.) Someone really ought to answer that telephone.

QUESTION: You said this morning that you didn’t sign the MOU in Berlin, as reported by Asahi?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, we did not sign any MOU.

QUESTION: Are you working with some sort of paper that involves the trade of (inaudible) or a freeze?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I really don’t like to hear this word “freeze.” We are not interested in freezing something; we are interested in addressing problems created by plutonium production in North Korea. Now, how we address that you will see soon enough. We are not interested in freezing; we are interested in moving toward, taking steps towards the abandonment of these nuclear programs.

QUESTION: You said actions in a “finite amount of time.” Can you sketch out that finite period?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think I said in Tokyo the other day that we are talking about single digit weeks. Not a terribly eloquent turn of phrase but that’s kind of what we are looking at.

QUESTION: You said you were you discussing uranium?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: You know the September ‘05 statement talks about the abandonment of all nuclear programs. We are discussing a lot of things pertaining to the abandonment of nuclear programs, but I don’t want to identify precisely what we are talking about. At this point I don’t want to tell you precisely what’s going to be in the initial steps, except to say that what’s important is we get an agreement on them. And what’s also important is we move to implement them in a reasonable amount of time.

QUESTION: Did the subject of uranium [figure] today in your discussions?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Again, I don’t want to talk about what precisely the nature of my discussions are today with the DPRK. I really don’t want to confirm or deny precisely what we talked about. What we want to do is to use this session here in Beijing in early February to identify a set of actions that will get us toward or moving along the path towards complete implementation of the September ‘05 statement. It’s not easy to get these actions. The first step of a journey is often the most difficult step, and this effort is in fact proving that. I think if we can agree on what we talked about today, it will be a clear sign that we are moving on a path -- and a clear sign that there is a political will to complete the draft and move toward the full or the complete implement of the September ’05 statement.

QUESTION: Are you over the hump on this on the issue of financial sanctions?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: The financial aspect is... You know, the country that has been engaged in some illicit activity, that has engaged in making weapons of mass destruction -- needless to say these factors add up to a country whose finances are going to be scrutinized, scrutinized in many different places. What we are focusing on is getting moving on the task of denuclearization. As North Korea denuclearizes and as they get out of the illicit activities, I think they can look forward to joining the international community, and that includes the international financial system.

QUESTION: This new agreement at these talks, is that going to set out, you know, this must happen by this date? Or specific steps like the U.S. will do this and North Korea will do that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: There will be some of that stuff, yes.

QUESTION: Is this going to be like a September 19th agreement of principles or what specifically should happen with actual timelines?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes, it won’t sound quite as boring as you are suggesting (laughter). Yes, it will have some specific stuff, and you’ll be able to check it out in a few weeks’ time and see if we are actually getting it done, yes.

QUESTION: So do you think the United States and North Korea see eye to eye on the issues of sequencing of this thing? Is that going to be a problem?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think we’ve worked through a number of those issues. When I talk about this path, that continues to be a bumpy path. We’ll find impediments in the way, and we’ll have to figure out ways to get over those. I think we’ve identified a way forward. But I want to emphasize, these are called the “Six-Party Talks,” not the “Two-Party Talks.” To be sure, we have some issues with the DPRK. But we’re not the only ones.

As I mentioned earlier, this whole Six-Party process is one that aims at in many ways overcoming a very difficult legacy in this part of the world. It’s an ambitious undertaking, but it’s not just for the U.S. There are other problems.

QUESTION: You just mentioned plutonium production. Would you say that’s high on your agenda in the next –

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes, the North Koreans have extracted plutonium and clearly tried to put it toward making plutonium-based nuclear weapons. That’s an issue we’re going to have to work very hard on.

QUESTION: Mr. Hill, this is the most optimistic you’ve been in literally months.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: This is optimistic? (Laughter) Is this how I sound when I’m optimistic?

QUESTION: You were far more pessimistic earlier. So tell us, obviously the Berlin meeting made a big difference. Although you didn’t sign an MOU, basically what did you agree with them that helped you to come this far?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’ll try again to tell you that I’m not going to discuss specific elements. You’ll see them soon enough when we get, if we can get this joint statement through. As for whether or not I’m optimistic, ask me -- Once we get something like this through, I’ll admit to being optimistic. Right now, it’s just me with a bad cough.

QUESTION: Is the joint statement going to reference the financial issue at all, or is that still totally separate?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: That’s separate.

QUESTION: Mr. Hill, can you give us some outline of your opening remarks?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’m sorry?

QUESTION: Can you give us an outline of your opening remarks at the plenary?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: At the plenary? Well, it’s a closed-door plenary. I can’t remember. I said something like the Six-Party Talks are a very ambitious undertaking. While I appreciate the favorable comments that some delegations have made about the U.S.-DPRK discussions in Berlin, I want to emphasize that we are talking about a Six-Party process which aims to address a number of very difficult issues. It was not just the U.S.-DPRK issue that this process is aiming to address. And it goes on from there.

QUESTION: Japanese Prime Minister Shinto Abe made it clear today that Tokyo will not provide economic aid unless the abductee issue has been solved. Do you see this as slowing down the process of implementing the 9/19 agreement?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Japan has a position. Japan needs to have a process with the DPRK, needs to have a mechanism for dealing with tough issues with the DPRK. We understand that. I think everyone understands that.

When you are dealing with six parties, different parties are going to have different problems in how they approach any single agreement. That’s what makes it difficult. But as I said, we made some real progress today, and we’ll have to see how we do tomorrow.

QUESTION: Are you looking at a process that goes well into next week? Or do you think this will wrap up relatively quickly?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I don’t know. I think the Chinese are hoping that we are talking about three or four days.

QUESTION: What’s your schedule tomorrow?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think we start with another head of delegation meeting, probably around 10:00 in the morning. I’m not sure if there’s much scheduled after that. I hope that we can have some bilateral meetings after that because I think those are important.

QUESTION: Ambassador Hill, did you meet Kim Gye Gwan today?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, the only real bilateral I had was earlier in the day with the Japanese delegation at the American Embassy. I had a number of tete-a-tete discussions with all the heads of delegation, including Kim Gye Gwan.

QUESTION: Mr. Hill, what did you say at today’s plenary speech?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I gave the first few lines, but I don’t want to go into the rest of it. They are closed door speeches. Because if I give you my speech, then everyone will feel they have to give their speeches. So no, I’m not going to do that.

QUESTION: Mr. Hill, you said you’re not concluding it a freeze, but we can’t sign an initial step of denuclearization, right? We have to have something first? And also, what about the working groups? Is that something the U.S. wants to get behind?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes, we need working groups. We’re going to be -- At some point, this process will get a little more technical, and we’ll need working groups to deal with that. I think we had a good understanding of what working groups are needed. I hope the list of working groups would be part of any joint statement that we are able to reach tomorrow.

All right, I’ve got a bad cough. I really have to take it easy tonight, so I’ll talk to you later.

QUESTION: Ambassador Hill, what is the working assumption of the U.S. Government on how much nuclear material the North Koreans have?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think the analytical community has different estimates, and maybe someone can get back to you and give you the correct estimate, because I don’t want to give you the wrong one, the figure that we use.

QUESTION: A declaration would be within this finite time, right? You would need a declaration from North Korea on how much nuclear material it has?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Again, you are getting into the specific elements that we would look for in this opening tranche, and so I don’t want to respond to that because you’ll learn soon enough.

QUESTION: What time are you leaving tomorrow morning?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I don’t know. I guess sometime in the morning I’ll probably go to the Embassy. I think we have to go to the Diaoyutai for a 10:00 meeting. I don’t know, 8:00ish? But I won’t have anything more to tell you at 8:00 as I tell you tonight, so I wasn’t planning to stop by here at 8:00 a.m.

All right, thank you. See you later.

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