US Envoy Due in China for Talks on North Korea

May 29, 08:40 AM

Current Headlines: Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

[Yonhap headline: "Top US Nuclear Envoy Due in China for Talks on North Korea"]

SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) - Washington's chief nuclear negotiator is due in Beijing Wednesday for discussions on ways to persuade North Korea to shut down its nuclear reactor as it agreed to in February, South Korean and Chinese officials said Tuesday.

Christopher Hill's scheduled visit to the Chinese capital for talks on "the North Korean nuclear issue and the resumption of the six-party talks" was confirmed by Jiang Yu, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

In the February agreement also signed by South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia, North Korea promised to shut down and eventually disable its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon in exchange for economic and energy assistance as well as political concessions.

Pyongyang, however, has yet to implement the initial shutdown phase of the energy-for-denuclearization deal, saying it will not do so until its money previously frozen in a Macau bank is returned.

Washington has agreed to release the North Korea-related funds in the Banco Delta Asia despite its final designation of the Macau bank in April as a primary money laundering concern for its links to the North's alleged illicit activities, which include counterfeiting and money laundering.

The proposed transfer of the funds has yet to take place due to what US and South Korean officials called some "technical difficulties."

Hill, assistant secretary of state for Asian and Pacific affairs, has been on a trip to this part of the world that has taken him to Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia to brief the nations on the North Korean nuclear standoff and call for their support for the six- party talks.

An official at the South Korean Foreign Ministry said the US diplomat has yet to arrange a visit to Seoul as part of his ongoing trip to Asia, but that a last-minute change was still possible, saying he had "always stopped by whenever he was in the region."

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