By Xinhua
Pyongyang (North Korea) : US chief nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said Wednesday he was satisfied with the talks with North Korean foreign ministry over the progress in dismantling the country’s nuclear facility.
“We had good talks and a full tour of Yongbyon, I would say the disablement activities are going well on schedule,” Hill said after he concluded a three-day visit to North Korea and prepared to leave Pyongyang for Beijing.
“In Pyongyang, I had an opportunity to have further discussion with my counterpart Vice-Minister Kim Gue-Guam. We have to keep working because we have to do more to meet our deadlines,” he added.
He also added that he was going to Beijing to talk with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei and would later report to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington.
Regarding the time North Korea will make a declaration of dismantling its nuclear programme, Hill said, “I think North Korea is working very hard for the declaration and we had some discussions about that, so I’m assured they will be prepared to meet the deadline.”
“We have to see what the North Korea does, but it has to give a full declaration and it has to be a complete declaration,” said Hill.
“We have discussed the next step of process,” Li Geun, director of North Korea Foreign Ministry’s America Bureau said.
According to a joint document released in six-party talks at Beijing Oct 3, North Korea agreed to disable all the existing nuclear facilities and provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs by the end of this year.
The document said the disablement of the five-megawatt Experimental Reactor, the Reprocessing Plant (Radiochemical Laboratory) and the Nuclear Fuel Rod Fabrication Facility in Yongbyon would be completed by Dec 31.