Comments to Reporters Upon Arrival at Haneda Airport

QUESTION: United States planning to give the human aid to North Korea?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE HILL: I don’t know. You're referring to some quote in some unnamed source from Washington or something? What I can tell you is that what the U.S. has been looking at is the question of the energy assistance and to be part of the overall energy assistance. And so we've been looking at various ideas of how we can assist the North Korean people with energy assistance. But I really don't have any comment on that report, because I'm not sure, really, what it's referring to, and I don't know who the person is who's been doing that. But certainly we have been looking at the issue of assistance to the North Korean people, and we'll continue to look at that.

But right now, I've arrived here in Tokyo. I think it's a very important time, and I'm looking forward to working very closely with my Japanese counterparts, including, of course, Kenichiro Sasae. So I'm looking forward to seeing him as soon as I leave here. It's very important that the U.S. and Japan work very closely together. We have been working very closely together on this entire North Korean issue. Of course, as you know, when Prime Minister Abe met with President Bush in Camp David, one of the main topics of discussion was in fact the North Korean nuclear issue. So I think we've, as I said, come to a very important time. And it's a time when Japan and the U.S. really need to stand very closely together.

We are very, very concerned, as are all the Japanese people, about the abduction question. And I can assure you that this is an issue that not only is very close to the negotiations but is also very close to our hearts. So I will be looking forward to talking to Sasae-san about that issue. I think that if we can make progress in this denuclearization process, I think we can help build the kind of foundation -- the kind of negotiating foundation -- that will help us make progress on the abduction issue.

So with those initial comments, I'll take one or two questions. I don't want to keep Sasae-san waiting in his office.

QUESTION: Is the money [inaudible] North Korea’s account?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: To my understanding, the money from Macau -- and I hope this is the last time I ever get asked the question about BDA and Macau and things like that -- but my understanding is that today it was deposited in the North Korean accounts, in their bank account in Russia.

QUESTION: In regard to the question about the money and assistance you were saying, can you rule out that the energy assistance would not come in the form of money but in some other way?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Oh yes. This is not about money; this is about looking to see what could be done to assist in the energy sector. I can rule out that we’re talking about cash. I can rule that out. We're talking about assistance in kind of some kind. So again, I don't know what was discussed in this media report. I do know that we've been looking for ways to assist the North Korean people when they have been suffering due to lack of energy resources. But this is not about cash.

QUESTION: Any idea, picking up momentum of resolving abductee issue on the context of Six-Party Talks?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Again, I'm looking forward to talking to Sasae-san about that. We always address the abduction issue. And as we pick up momentum in the Six-Party process, of course we want to see some progress in our working groups, including the bilateral working group, in particular the Japan-DPRK working group. As you know, like several of our working groups, unfortunately, not as much progress was made as we would have liked to see. And so we will see if we can do better this time.

We're very pleased, though, that we’re past this banking issue and onto the real event of getting the IAEA in to begin the process of shutting down the reactor. And as we move through these obligations according to the February agreement, it's my hope that we can get moving on some of these bilateral relationships to deal with the outstanding issues, including and especially the abduction issue.

QUESTION: When can you resume the working groups?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Again, I'm here to do some consultation with the Japanese Government on that. I talked to the chairman of the Six-Party process, the Chinese Deputy Minister Wu Dawei. And so I was in Seoul yesterday and Japan today, and we're going to be discussing all of that.

As you know, I'm hopeful we can get to Six-Party talks of some kind in early July. I think there are some other press reports out there -- people less optimistic than I am and think it might be later in July. I think the sooner the better, and when we do get together in the Six-Party process, it's my strong hope that we also make progress in the working groups, because the working groups made some progress, but not enough progress. So we will get to work very hard on the working groups.

This is a time when, I think, everybody needs to kind of quicken the pace and work very hard. I know the IAEA. I've talked to them, and they are looking forward to getting on with their task. And so I look forward to the continued very, very close, very important cooperation that the U.S. has with Japan. But I would really rather get to Sasae-san’s office, because I don't want to keep him waiting. It's not polite. He is my senior, you know.

QUESTION: [inaudible] size of the assistance of energy is $2 million.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Again, I can’t really response to a press report like that. I do know that we've been looking at forms of assistance to help institutions such as hospitals. We are not talking about cash assistance. We're talking about forms of energy. This is humanitarian assistance, and I think that's what that report was about. But again, I don't know who said it. I don't know in what context. But I know that when we're talking humanitarian assistance, we're talking assistance in kind and not assistance in cash.

QUESTION: Last question. Do you feel any concern about Japanese abduction issue might delay --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: It’s a very important issue in Japan. We know that. It's been a very important issue with your government. It's been a very important issue with your people. When I was in Camp David, this issue was raised, was discussed rather thoroughly. We understand the importance of this, and what I want to do is assure you that it's very important to us. So I consider this all part of what we're trying to do here, because we're trying to build a strong negotiating platform, a strong negotiating platform where we can deal with many of these outstanding issues that have affected relationships throughout this region. And this is obviously one of them. So I'm looking forward to talking to Sasae-san about that.

But I'm not looking forward to being late. So let me go. Thank you. See you later.