Six Party Talks -- North Korea Declaration

Statement by Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman
Dec. 31, 2007

Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman

North Korea Declaration

In September 2005, the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea agreed on a Joint Statement with North Korea that charted the way forward toward achieving a nuclear weapons free Korean peninsula.  Under the terms of the Initial Actions Agreement of February 2007, North Korea shut down operations at the Yongbyon nuclear facility where it had produced weapons-grade plutonium and international inspectors returned to North Korea to verify and monitor this process.  In October 2007, North Korea committed to declare all its nuclear programs and to disable the three key nuclear facilities at Yongbyon by the end of December 2007 as an initial step toward eventually abandoning all its nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs.  The other parties, in turn, agreed to cooperate in economic and energy assistance to North Korea.  Such assistance has been provided under a formula of "actions for actions" as the North carried out its commitments to disable its nuclear facilities.

It is unfortunate that North Korea has not yet met its commitments by providing a complete and correct declaration of its nuclear programs and slowing down the process of disablement.  We will continue to work with our close allies Japan and South Korea, and partners China and Russia, as we urge North Korea to deliver a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear weapons programs and nuclear weapons and proliferation activities and complete the agreed disablement.  The United States is committed to fulfilling our obligations under the Six Party agreements as North Korea fulfills all its obligations.

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