Remarks to the Press in Northern Mongolia

QUESTION: (Inaudible – request for reaction to North Korea’s invitation to the IAEA)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think it's very good news. Obviously we still have a lot of steps to go, to work out. But none of these steps could be worked out unless we had this step. So this was very, very good news. We arrived in Mongolia -- this place halfway to Siberia -- and when we arrived at this place, we were told that because it was raining that it would bring good luck. So I think the Mongolians were right.

QUESTION: However, North Koreans have just said that there might be an IAEA meeting, and they yet pledged to (inaudible)?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I am not going to start (inaudible) this statement. The statement speaks for itself clearly. (Inaudible) So it's very good news.

QUESTION: North Koreans haven't got the money yet, but they still (inaudible) ask the Americans (inaudible).

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes, I think they use the term "final phase." And I think that is correct, because we know the money is in the Russian banking system, and it will soon be in the North Korean account. So they quite rightly understand that the money was coming to them and so, as a result, made the right decision.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) moving one step (inaudible) they are showing good will?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: (Inaudible) in the light of the fact that we have been waiting for like 10 weeks. So if that's your headline, you go ahead with that (laughs).

QUESTION: But you are quite confident that they are satisfied?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I am confident that we can get on with shutting down the reactor. Obviously IAEA has a lot of details to work out with the DPRK (inaudible). But I want to make very clear that this whole issue of shutting down the reactor is but the first step, because we are looking to the next step of disabling the program. We've got a long way to go, and we are not there until we take the final step and the final step (inaudible) in the September '05 statement of principles, which is the complete denuclearization (inaudible).

QUESTION: Do you think the North Koreans have followed the principle of action to action?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I don't know. I am so tired of that expression. I never understood what it meant. I still don't understand it now. What I do understand is that when the IAEA is invited, I think they will -- we can proceed -- they will proceed with this discussion and work out the details of getting the reactor shut down.

QUESTION: How long do you expect take the actual shutdown?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I am not an expert in shutting down a reactor. I haven't done one myself, but I think from what the experts tell us, it can go fairly quickly -- a matter of two-three weeks or so. But we have some other obligations from the February agreement that need to be worked out. We will need to have discussions with the DPRK in anticipation of their list of nuclear (inaudible) to be abandoned. We've got to work out some of the details of what we are talking about for the next phase -- (inaudible) disablement and the issue of the additional amounts of fuel oil.

In the first phase, the initial phase, we -- the South Koreans will be providing 50,000 tons of fuel oil. So that has to get going again. And my understanding is that they need to place an order to the refinery to begin that. And then we have to work out how we get the 950,000 tons for the next phase. So we have a lot of work ahead of us. Then we have these working groups, including the DPRK-Japan working group, which we all would love to see more progress in (inaudible).

So we have an awful lot of work ahead of us. But we couldn't get to any of this work unless we get through this step. So a good day in rainy Mongolia.

QUESTION: (Inaudible)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, I just heard the news report when our Special Assistant for the East Asia Bureau, Mr. Gibbons, told me when we were in my ger (Mongolian tent). So we went out in the rain to the hotel so we could get more information. We were able to see the press reports. So that is all we have right now.

QUESTION: (Inaudible)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, I had hoped this would happen at this time. So in anticipation of it happening I planned to go onto Beijing on Monday and Seoul Monday night. I think it will give (inaudible). (Inaudible) I would not have liked to go to those three countries discussing the fact that we had not made progress. So this is good. It's been a long time, too long. So now, on Saturday night, we can take some time off (inaudible).