Remarks to Press in Pyongyang, North Korea

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ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: First of all we had we had a good two days of talks. It was also a very good occasion to get out and see Yongbyon. I had a full tour of Yongbyon and most importantly had a full tour of the disablement activities which are underway on all three sites. I talked to the Americans who are working in fact living out there who report they are having good cooperation with their DPRK counterparts. So I would say the disablement activities are going well and on schedule. In Pyongyang I had the opportunity, of course, to have further discussions with my counterpart Vice Minister Kim Gye Kwan and we had the, we discussed the elements of the package for December 31 and assess the fact that progress has been made but we have to keep working because we have more to do to meet our deadlines. And finally I also had the occasion to discuss next steps and the fact that we need to try to keep up the pace and get to the end of this.

QUESTION: Are you satisfied with the result?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes, I am satisfied with the result, a good couple of days and I'm going to go to Beijing right now and talk to Wu Dawei and get on a plane back to Washington and report back to Secretary Rice.”

QUESTION: When will DPRK make declaration?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think the DPRK are working very hard on the declaration and we have had some discussions about that making the point that it has to be a complete and comprehensive declaration but it was a good discussion so I'm sure they will be prepared to meet the deadlines with respect to the declaration.

QUESTION: Did you enjoy your stay here?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Did I what? Enjoy I enjoy it? Oh I had a very good visit, it was good to get to Yonbyon. It was good also to have these consultations and I was able to see a bit of Pyongyang in fact including the subway.