Evening Walk-Through, St. Regis Hotel Beijing, China - April 14, 2007

Remarks by Christopher R. Hill

Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Evening Walk-Through, St. Regis Hotel

Beijing, China

April 14, 2007 
 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I don’t have a lot for your tonight, but I will tell you what I’ve got. We had a very useful discussion with the Chinese over at the Chinese Foreign Ministry.  We compared notes on the situation.  The Chinese made very clear to us that they support the arrangements in Macau, support the decision of the Macau authorities to unblock the accounts, and conveyed their support.   

I talked to them about the fact that we had reached our 60 day deadline and, needless to say, this presents a concern that the deadline has not been met.  The Chinese believe that we ought to show a little more patience on this but promise that we will be in very close communication in the coming days.  So I am going to be talking to some of my other counterparts on the telephone and probably going back to Washington tomorrow. 

QUESTION: Have the Chinese heard anything more than you have from the North Koreans about what the delay is about? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I would say there have been some good communications among the parties.  I will leave it to the Chinese to tell you about their communications with the DPRK, but let me just say I think the lines of communication have been open. 

QUESTION: So after meeting with Wu Dawei today, do you have a better understanding what’s going on now? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think the Chinese wanted us to show some patience for a couple more days.  I think there is a sense that the communication lines are open and that the North Koreans understand the fact that these accounts, or these funds, are accessible to them.  So, I think that’s what we’ll do for the next couple of days. 

I’m going to be going back to Washington, though, as of tomorrow afternoon. 

QUESTION: You say a couple of days. Do you think that can be resolved within that time, or is that the time that you expect them to say something about the funds? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I hate to predict the day that is going to be resolved, except to say it should be resolved now.  If it’s going to get resolved, then it certainly can be resolved very soon. 

QUESTION: You said the 60-day point is very important, and once the deadline is broken, it is going to keep broken -- 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Obviously, we are concerned about the 60 days.  Now, a number of things we are supposed to happen in 60 days, and those things have not happened.  We don’t have Yongbyon nuclear facilities shut down; we don’t have them monitored with international observers.  We do not have any fuel oil delivered to the DPRK.  There are number of things that have not happened.   

As I made clear many times, our interest is not just this 60 days; our interest is this initial period as well as the next period and next period after that.  So, obviously, we want to see these phases move ahead quickly, and we want to be able to build momentum.  We haven’t been able to do that yet. 

QUESTION: Do you still have confidence of this tactic going step by step? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think the step-by-step approach is the right approach.  I would draw your attention to the DPRK statement yesterday in which they expressed their full support for the February 13^th agreement.  But our concern is we don’t have implementation of that agreement in the timeframe that we wanted implementation.   

But, to be sure, nobody expected this banking issue to have gone on as long as it has gone on.  It did prove to be a very complex matter.  But I believe we have, with the help of Macau authorities and the support of the Chinese authorities, reached a solution on that.  So I do believe that the ball is in the North Korean’s court. 

QUESTION: You did mention the fuel oil.  Is that ready to be delivered?  Where is that? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I understand -- As you know, this, the shipment of fuel oil is something the South Koreans have agreed to do -- the first shipment.  My understanding is that it is ready to be shipped.  But it won’t be shipped until we have a progress on the implementing the 60 days.  So there has been no fuel oil delivered to the DPRK. 

QUESTION: For the next couple of days, if North Koreans don’t do anything, what are you going to do? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: You know, anytime you put a question with an “if” in front of it, you make my job very easy -- because it’s a hypothetical question.   

Obviously, every day that goes on is a day we have to be concerned about, and we have to be in a very close contact with all our partners in this.  We are guided by the need to work closely together and also by an understanding of where our interests lie and what we want to accomplish. We will continue to be in very close contact.  Obviously when you see a deadline missed there is a reason to be concerned.  

QUESTION: What about some of the other undertakings that were supposed to happen in the first 60 days on the U.S. side, particularly removing North Korea, or starting to remove North Korea, from Trading with the Enemy [Act]? 
 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We believe we accomplished that when we had our bilateral working group to discuss our relationship, and we had a good discussion on the issue of the Trading with the Enemy issue, the Terrorism Act.  That was a good initial discussion.  But those issues were not ones that were expected to be resolved, certainly not in this phase.   

QUESTION: But that qualifies as starting with this promise? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We did, because we put it on the table and had an in-depth discussion about it.  We discussed some of the antecedents, how we got here on this issue.  We had an in-depth discussion about some of the issues that had caused North Korea to be put on these lists.  So that was a good opening discussion.   

But these 60 days, the key elements were, of course, a shipment of fuel oil, which has not been done.  The second element was to have all five working groups meet.  And we did have all five working groups meet, I would say with varying degrees of success.  So more needs to be done on the working group side.  We had also hoped to have an in-depth discussion about the nuclear programs that would be listed in a declaration in a subsequent phase, and I don’t believe we’ve had that in-depth discussion yet.  The key issue was our willingness to get going on some fuel oil, the North Korean willingness to shut down the facilities.   

Our willingness to resolve the BDA matter, which we felt we’ve resolved.  And, as I’ve said to you, anytime you deal with these banking issues, especially bank regulation issues, you’re into some complications.  It has taken a long time.  But we feel, in terms of resolving that issue, we are there.   

So I hope that the North Koreans understand that it’s now for them to get moving. 

QUESTION: Is it your understanding or your view that the missing of this deadline is because of the complexity of the banking issue, or because North Korea is dragging its heels? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Clearly, the issue was complex -- because just making the accounts available was something that required a number of jurisdictions to have an opinion about.  Certainly, it was the Macau decision -- a decision that we have supported and China has supported.  But there was indeed a matter of complexity that slowed us down.  I would argue, though, that we have acted in very good faith to try to address this issue, and it’s time for the North Koreans to get moving on their issues. 

MODERATOR: We have time for one more question. 

QUESTION: You said that you’re waiting for a response from the North Koreans, and the Chinese have asked for patience.  If there is a positive response from the North Koreans over the next few days or the next week, would it be something where you would want to come back to Beijing again and meet with them as soon as possible? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We would expect that -- as we get through 60-day issues, as the IAEA begins to deploy, as the facilities begin to be shutdown, we have to finish up some of the other elements of the 60-day period, including having this in-depth discussion about their nuclear programs to be abandoned, pursuant to the agreement -- I think, realistically speaking, we’d be probably talking about a Six-Party head of delegation meeting pretty soon.   

As you recall too from February, we are very interested in – once we achieve the 60-day outcomes – that we would not only have a meeting of heads of delegation, but we would be recommending to our ministers a meeting for the ministers to assess where we’ve come, assess some of the difficulties we’ve encountered, and then assess where we’re going and what additional impetus can be given to the process.  So I do anticipate being back in Beijing pretty soon. 

I would like to say that the Chinese were not discouraged by this process and do believe there is some progress being achieved.  And, for that reason, they asked that we – I wouldn’t say “show some patience” – I would say “continue to show some patience,” because I think that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. 

QUESTION: So China is actively keeping in touch with North Korea and are they urging… 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’m not a Chinese Government spokesman, but I think they are active participants in trying to get this matter resolved so that we can get on with it. 

QUESTION: So just for clarification, you would hope for another Six-Party or head of delegation before the end of April? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We need to talk to all the parties about it.  But my understanding is that I think we would expect to see a Six-Party meeting probably in April, with one of the main agenda items to see how we can or when we can set meeting with the ministers.   

QUESTION: Are you stopping by Tokyo tomorrow? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I am not going to stop by Tokyo.  I think my colleague there has just had a very busy week with the Chinese Premier there.  So I think I’ll try to reach Ken Sasae tonight.  I tried to reach him this morning, in fact.  I was in touch with him, not yesterday but the day before.  I was in touch with him, and I’ll continue to be in touch.   

All right? 

QUESTION: Schedule for tomorrow? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think I’m just going to leave. 

QUESTION: Which flight are you taking?  (Laughter.) 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Are you a travel agent or something?   

QUESTION: Are you leaving in the morning or the afternoon? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think it’s in the afternoon.  I just want to sleep in a little if that’s OK with you. 

QUESTION: And nothing for tonight? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Nothing for tonight.  Go home, or go wherever you want to go.   

QUESTION: And nothing for tomorrow morning? 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Nothing for tomorrow morning.  That’s right.  No news.  And if there’s news, we’ll tell you there’s news.   

Go enjoy.  All right.  See you later.

 

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