Remarks by Christopher R. Hill
Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Night Walk-thru, St. Regis Hotel
Beijing, China
October 31, 2007

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  We talked about the disablement, the fact that all the Six Party teams are welcome -- including those from Japan.  So it was a good discussion, but not so many specifics really.

QUESTION:  Are you more confident that the [inaudible] will be done by the end of this year?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  That the what?

QUESTION:  Disablement phase.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  I think we can complete the disablement phase by the end of the year, yes.

QUESTION:  Have you indicated that you can de-list them from the state sponsors of terrorism list.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  We talked about what is involved, and we talked about the fact that we will be giving them some specific issues that are involved in the U.S. law -- so the specific U.S. legal issues related.

QUESTION:  Did you propose some conditions?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We proposed to them what is involved in the de-listing.  No, I think you need to understand that, from the United States’ point of view, we have this United States law on listing of countries as state sponsors of terrorism.  It’s in the United States’ interest that we try to get countries off of that list.  They have to show that they fulfill the requirements. So we’ve had a good discussion about fulfilling those requirements.

QUESTION:  [Inaudible]

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  I’m sorry?

QUESTION:  [Inaudible]

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  We had some discussion about that back in February and they acknowledged their involvement, the fact that they took the terrorists back in 1970.  They acknowledged their involvement in the abduction issues back in 1978.  We also discussed the 1983 and 1987 incidents as well.

QUESTION:  According to the law, I understand you have to --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  This is the United States law?

QUESTION:  Yes, yes.  You have to notify the Congress 45 days before the actual de-listing.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  That’s right.

QUESTION:  So in that sense if you want to remove North Korea off the list, you have to do something the middle of November.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  I would say that when we inform Congress, it is an affirmative move that we plan to de-list. So informing Congress is the key moment.

QUESTION:  So if you inform the Congress?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  That is the key moment.

QUESTION:  So if you want to remove North Korea off the list by the end of this year, doesn’t that mean that you have to notify Congress by the middle of November?  Do you regard that --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  Well, I think it depends how you look at it.  Once we inform the Congress, that is really a very major step--  because what that says is they are being de-listed. And the technical task of actually de-listing them, whether 45 days, the key issue is when do you inform Congress.  Because when you are informing Congress, it means that you believe that the country involved has fulfilled the requirements for de-listing from the United States terrorism list.

QUESTION:  Do the North Koreans understand that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Do they understand that when we inform Congress it means that they have fulfilled the requirements for delisting?  I think they do.

QUESTION:  If the disablement goes on with this momentum, then are you confident that you can notify the Congress by the end of [inaudible]?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  The issue of being de-listed is not directly related to disablement.  It’s related to the statutory U.S. law concerning whether they qualify for de-listing.  And qualifying for de-listing has to do with the country in question -- in this case, DPRK -- showing that they are not a sponsor of terrorism, that they have signed up to UN covenants in this regard. So it is -- To be de-listed is not a matter of disabling nuclear programs.  It’s a matter of fulfilling the requirements of the U.S. law.

QUESTION:  And others [inaudible] fulfillment of those conditions

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  We had a good discussion on that, and I believe we will continue to have a good discussion on that.

Okay?

QUESTION:  The remaining steps to be resolved of disablement -- is Mr. Sung Kim going to talk about that with the North Koreans over there?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  Yes, we have a pretty clear idea of what measures need to be taken.  So he will be going in with a team tomorrow.  We are also inviting other members of the Six-Party process to be involved in the team.  So we would expect that at a later date -- or at any date, frankly -- we’ll have some Japanese representatives on the disabling team.

QUESTION: So you don’t think that there will be no more technical matters to be resolved?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  I don’t think there is anything to be resolved.  There will be technical issues, but I don’t think we have any political issues.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  Okay?

QUESTION:  Do you have another round of meetings with DPRK tomorrow morning?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  No, I don’t have any more meetings.  I think tomorrow morning I’m going to go out to Beijing University and talk to some Chinese students.

QUESTION:  When are you going to meet with the Russians?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL:  I think it is tomorrow afternoon, after the meeting with Beijing students.

Okay?

QUESTION:  Thank you very much.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: See you later. 

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