US sees no breakthrough in DPRK N-talks
Saturday, 15 March 2008
GENEVA, Mar 14 (AFP): North Korean and US negotiators failed to reach any breakthrough in talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programme and do not plan to resume negotiations Friday, the chief US negotiator said.
"It was good consultations but we are not there yet," Christopher Hill told journalists late Thursday outside the US mission in Geneva after meeting his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan.
"We are going to report to our capitals," he said, adding there were no plans to continue the talks Friday.
Earlier in the day, Hill had hinted the talks might be extended, but by late evening he simply said: "We had a long day of discussions, (and) we are in a better position now than when we arrived."
The two sides talked about a host of sensitive issues including uranium enrichment and humanitarian assistance, he added.
North Korea last year signed a landmark deal to abandon all its nuclear weapons in exchange for badly needed energy and economic aid and major security and diplomatic benefits.
But the process -- involving China, Japan, both Koreas, Russia and the United States -- has been stalled since the Stalinist state missed an end-2007 deadline to declare all its nuclear programmes and disable its plutonium plant.
Hill insisted earlier that Washington needed a full and frank declaration, and that verbal assurances would not suffice.
We cannot be flexible on the fact that we need a complete and correct declaration," Hill said.
"I don't think that verbal assurances to the US is really what does it," he added.
On Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said he hoped that the meeting would produce some tangible results.
"A complete and correct declaration is a key to moving to the next stage rather than when the North will declare its nuclear facilities," Yu said.
At stake is a US call for North Korea to clarify its suspected uranium enrichment programme (UEP) and secret nuclear technology transfers to Syria.
Pyongyang, which conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006 with plutonium, has denied the existence of a separate nuclear programme based on a UEP and has rejected alleged links with Syria.
Hill and Kim met in Beijing last month in an effort to break the deadlock, but no progress was reported at the meeting.
"It was good consultations but we are not there yet," Christopher Hill told journalists late Thursday outside the US mission in Geneva after meeting his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan.
"We are going to report to our capitals," he said, adding there were no plans to continue the talks Friday.
Earlier in the day, Hill had hinted the talks might be extended, but by late evening he simply said: "We had a long day of discussions, (and) we are in a better position now than when we arrived."
The two sides talked about a host of sensitive issues including uranium enrichment and humanitarian assistance, he added.
North Korea last year signed a landmark deal to abandon all its nuclear weapons in exchange for badly needed energy and economic aid and major security and diplomatic benefits.
But the process -- involving China, Japan, both Koreas, Russia and the United States -- has been stalled since the Stalinist state missed an end-2007 deadline to declare all its nuclear programmes and disable its plutonium plant.
Hill insisted earlier that Washington needed a full and frank declaration, and that verbal assurances would not suffice.
We cannot be flexible on the fact that we need a complete and correct declaration," Hill said.
"I don't think that verbal assurances to the US is really what does it," he added.
On Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said he hoped that the meeting would produce some tangible results.
"A complete and correct declaration is a key to moving to the next stage rather than when the North will declare its nuclear facilities," Yu said.
At stake is a US call for North Korea to clarify its suspected uranium enrichment programme (UEP) and secret nuclear technology transfers to Syria.
Pyongyang, which conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006 with plutonium, has denied the existence of a separate nuclear programme based on a UEP and has rejected alleged links with Syria.
Hill and Kim met in Beijing last month in an effort to break the deadlock, but no progress was reported at the meeting.