US Nuclear Envoy to Meet North Korean Counterpart - Kyodo

Jun 21, 05:05 AM

Current Headlines: Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

[By Naoko Aoki]

Beijing, June 21 Kyodo: Top US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill, who arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday for talks on implementation of a denuclearization deal, will meet with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye Gwan in the afternoon, a diplomatic source said.

Hill, the first high-ranking US diplomat to visit North Korea in more than four years, is not expected to hold other major meetings and is scheduled to leave the North Korean capital Friday morning, according to the source.

China's official Xinhua News Agency quoted Hill as saying upon arrival in Pyongyang he is visiting at the invitation of North Korea and that he will be discussing the issue of moving the six-party denuclearization process forward.

Hill's surprise visit to Pyongyang comes after North Korea last week invited a delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency back into the country, following the transfer of North Korea-linked funds out of a Macao bank.

Under a Feb. 13 agreement, North Korea agreed to shut down and seal its Yongbyon nuclear facility and invite back the IAEA by April 14 in exchange for the start of energy aid. But North Korea had refused to implement them until it received the funds at Banco Delta Asia SARL.

The invitation to the IAEA was the first indication that Pyongyang is now ready to implement the denuclearization measures.

Hill's visit to Pyongyang is the first to North Korea by a senior US official since October 2002 when then US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly, Hill's predecessor, made a trip to the country.

Hill, who flew from Tokyo, stopped at a US military base in South Korea and then headed to Pyongyang, a South Korean official said in Seoul.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a press conference that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice briefed Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso about Hill's trip Thursday morning in a telephone conversation.

In Washington, a US State Department official said Hill will return to Tokyo on Friday and head back to Washington on Saturday.

During his stay in Japan since Tuesday, after first visiting China and South Korea, Hill said the issue of the delayed funds transfer is resolved and he expressed hope the six-party talks would resume in early July.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said in a statement that Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his South Korean counterpart Song Min Soon spoke over the telephone and agreed to move the six-way process forward.

Yang said that the "positive developments" achieved over the North Korea funds issue are the result of "efforts by all sides," said the statement posted on the ministry's website.

The six-party talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

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