By AFP
Washington : A top US envoy will meet in Singapore Tuesday with his North Korean counterpart as part of negotiations to end the hardline communist state’s nuclear weapons drive, US officials said Friday.
But State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey played down chances of a breakthrough in the new round of talks between US negotiator Christopher Hill and North Korea’s Kim Kye-Gwan, even if he hoped they would make progress.
Following up on their last meeting in the Swiss city of Geneva in the middle of March, the pair will meet in Singapore Tuesday to discuss “issues related to the declaration, and the continued process of disablement,” Casey said.
Casey countered speculation that Hill, who has been traveling in Asia in the last week, was about to obtain the long-awaited declaration from North Korea on its nuclear programs and activities. “Chris will not be coming home with a declaration in his briefcase or suitcase.
This is part of a continuing process. Certainly we hope to make continued progress on it,” Casey said. A 2007 deal, involving the United States, China, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia, offers North Korea energy aid and major diplomatic and security benefits in return for full denuclearization. Under the current phase it was to disable its main plutonium-producing plants and declare all nuclear activities by the end of 2007.
The North, which tested an atomic weapon in October 2006, says it submitted the declaration last November. But the United States says it has not accounted for a suspect uranium program or for alleged proliferation to Syria. Negotiators cannot move to the third and last phase of having North Korea abandon and dismantle its nuclear programs and facilities without knowing their “complete range,” Casey said.
“And that’s why the declaration is so important.” Casey played down suggestions the nuclear talks would be hurt by inter-Korean tension culminating Thursday when North Korea said it was freezing all dialogue with the South and closing the border to Seoul officials. Casey said the talks were “still moving forward” despite the harsh words.
“While those comments are unhelpful, and certainly don’t contribute anything positive, I, at this point, certainly don’t see any reason to assert that they have a significant impact on the six-party talks,” Casey said. Lieutenant General Walter Sharp, the prospective commander of US troops in South Korea, said in a report that Seoul should develop a “systematic” missile defense system to face any attacks from the North.
In a written testimony to a US Senate military panel, Sharp also said the US intelligence community “remains uncertain” about North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il’s commitment to full denuclearization as promised under the six-nation deal. Casey said Hill will travel from Singapore to Beijing on Wednesday to brief Chinese officials on his talks with the North Korean official and also discuss US-Chinese issues.
China chairs the six-party talks. Hill was due to arrive in Singapore late Monday from East Timor, with talks scheduled the same evening with Singaporean officials, Casey said.