Evening Walkthrough With Reporters at Six-Party Talks

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Don't you guys ever take a vacation? (Laughter) We just finished the denuclearization working group. We concluded it with a plenary discussion where we went around--a sort of tour de table--and discussed what we were able to do during this. I think everyone is looking forward to the Six-Party discussion tomorrow, because at that discussion tomorrow we'll review all five working groups. Because, as we discussed the denuclearization working group, there was a desire to discuss some of the others. We'll be assessing all of the working groups tomorrow.

Denuclearization--I think there was positive assessment of it. Everybody was very positive about the fact that Mr. ElBaradei was able to visit Pyongyang. The DPRK spokesman also made very clear that they have begun their tasks for the purpose of denuclearization.

We are expecting to discuss some of the other working groups tomorrow and in particular to make sure that we are going to be on schedule. (To journalist wielding boom mike) Is that thing alive? (Laughter.)

No surprises really. The DPRK discussed how they see the road ahead in the second phase but wanted everyone to be focusing more on the first phase, which is fine.

On February 13, we undertook a rather ambitious task of holding five working groups, of getting them all started at least by the mid-point of the 60 days. We're pleased that we were successful in doing that. Clearly, we have a lot more work to do. I think the working group on denuclearization in this first 60 days is fairly clear on what has to be done. Much of that has to be done by the IAEA. But some of the other working groups are going to have to do a lot more things. In particular, the energy and economic assistance working group is going to have to pick up the pace. And we hope that the DPRK will come back to that working group with a clear view of what it needs in terms of energy assistance in the coming phase.

I think overall it was a good start. But as I've said many times before and will say many times again, we have a long way to go.

QUESTION: Ambassador, you mentioned that the DPRK have begun the process of their task. Can you elaborate on that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: In the sense that they had ElBaradei there. And I think there's an understanding of what the next phase would be, which would be to invite someone from the DPRK to Vienna to continue those discussions. IAEA of course will need to have their own procedures. Mr. ElBaradei has a clear idea of what he wants to do there. So I think we are on schedule for the shutdown of the facilities and the monitoring by IAEA. I'm pleased that we are moving on that.

QUESTION: Is there any action they took besides inviting Mr. ElBaradei?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, but it's pretty clear that they are prepared to move ahead. They were very focused on the need of other commitments to be made. I think we had a good bilateral meeting in New York, and that was obviously very important to the DPRK. I know they wanted to get details of the BDA settlement, and I think that was important that we had some meetings with them yesterday and today.

And so, as I've said before, I think we have gotten past the BDA issue, and that will not be an impediment to our six-party process.

QUESTION: Ambassador Hill, you mentioned at your talk this morning that you are hoping to get more work done on scheduling the talks.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes, we had a brief discussion of that in the plenary today. I think what we need to do is to create a sub-working group to really go into some of the details. We don't have the clarity we're going to need on that in order to move to the declaration which is envisioned for this follow-on phase. There's a lot more work that needs to be done on HEU.

QUESTION: But the sub-working group, will you also schedule out the plans for the sub-working group now?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I'm looking forward to having some discussions about that in the next couple of days in the Six-Parties to work on that. The DPRK discussed the issue briefly in the plenary, but I think we need to do some scheduling and then more importantly to have some serious discussions.

QUESTION: And also, did North Korea--Were you able to call for more of a conclusion between the five parties about what the shutdown would actually mean?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes, there was a lot of discussion about what the shutdown means. There was also a lot of discussion about how the IAEA would relate to the Six Parties. In that sense, I think it was a very good working group, because there was a lot of discussion among the various parties and agreement on some common definitions, basically.

QUESTION: And they're providing you with definitions?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: A definition of what shutdown means, a definition of what Yongbyon means--so there was a good discussion on that. What we need to think about more as we go forward is how we will link the Six Parties to the IAEA--because, after all, the IAEA is doing a lot of the initial work on this denuclearization deal.

Again, I've said it so many times and I know your hands are getting tired writing this down, but we're not done until we get full denuclearization. We're not done until the September statement is fully realized.

We are going to need a road map ahead. I think we're going to have to discuss that. I think the DPRK wanted to keep the discussions pretty much focused on the 60-day obligations, but we need to continue to go forward and figure out how many different phases this is going to take.

QUESTION: Why do you think Mr. Kim Gye-gwan refused to meet you today?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: He didn't meet any of the other parties this weekend, so you will have to ask him. I know he did not meet the Chinese hosts, for example. We look forward to seeing him tomorrow morning.

QUESTION: Mr. Hill, there's a report out of Seoul that at a number of times you have been offered quite an extraordinary offer, that the DPRK was going to destroy all of their nuclear facilities in return for speeding up the process of normalization of relations. Is there anything on that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: That's a report out of Seoul?

QUESTION: Yes.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Oh well, I look forward to reading that. (Laughter.) I'm sorry I don't know what they are talking about.

QUESTION: Apparently the offer was extraordinary.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think I would have remembered if there had been an extraordinary offer. But I just look at one little step at a time. I don't remember anything extraordinary.

QUESTION: Was there any discussion today on the timetable for dismantlement?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, there wasn't. We have had discussions on the timetable for the next phase. In fact, we had some discussions on that in New York. We have in mind a phase that would be a matter of months--not years, but months. I know that's the understanding of the ROK and several other delegations. But we've not been able to map that out yet in terms of how long this would be. I think that may be something we should do in the next couple of days.

QUESTION: The North Korean delegation has expressed a preference. Have you said anything about this preference?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We've had some discussions with them on that. I'd rather not go into it until it's finalized though.

QUESTION: There's a report that there are five facilities to be shut down in Yongbyon. Can you confirm that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: There's the Yongbyon nuclear facility, and then people have to have understanding of what that means. I don't recall five. But they are all obviously related facilities. They are all nuclear facilities, and they are all at Yongbyon. The five-megawatt reactor is the key facility because--The five-megawatt reactor and the reprocessing plant are key facilities, but there are some other facilities that are related to that. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if it comes to five or not.

QUESTION: Mr. Hill, to go back to the BDA issue. You keep saying that the BDA will not be a problem. Can you say, do you expect the North Koreans to get the full amount of $24 million back (inaudible) before it can start?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We've had some good discussions. I think we'll be able to say something publicly soon on that. As you recall, within 30 days--last week--we finalized our rule and essentially resolved the issue. We had to have some consultations. We did some consultations in Macau, in Beijing, and also consultations with the DPRK. On the basis of those consultations, I think we'll be able to make an announcement, a statement on that. We'll be able to answer your question I think very soon, but I can't do it right now.

QUESTION: How soon?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: How soon? I would say very soon, but I don't know precisely. It's very, very early in the morning in Washington. We are trying to have some discussions later on tonight about it. I think it will be very, very soon. Very, very soon. Does that help? Okay, well, thank you very much!

QUESTION: What are you doing the rest of the evening?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Nothing official, so this is the last opportunity I will have to see you tonight.

QUESTION: What time are you leaving tomorrow?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think we are talking about leaving here 5:00 in the morning. (Laughter.) I think it's about 8:00? Seriously, 8:00 we will go to the embassy. We want to have the delegation meeting, because we have some other people coming in tonight. We want to have a meeting in advance of this Six-Party meeting, and I think it gets going at Diaoyoutai at 10:00 or something like that.

QUESTION: You will be meeting with Mr. Glaser today, tonight?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I hope so. I think his plane managed to get through the fog here. So I look forward to seeing him. He has had, as you know, a lot of discussions in Macau. We've been on the phone three or four times in the last 24 hours.

QUESTION: Is there a possibility that Mr. Glaser to meet North Korean delegation?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I don't think he has plans to do that. We've met the DPRK delegation twice in connection with these issues. I don't think there is a plan for him to do that. I don't think there is a plan because I don't think there is need.

QUESTION: Will he be joining the Six-Party talks tomorrow?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, he won't.  Okay? See you all tomorrow morning. Bye bye!