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The U.S. and North Korea will meet face-to-face on Sunday afternoon to discuss steps to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program before proper six-nation talks on the matter resume the next day, sources said. The U.S. top nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill and his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan will meet in Beijing after Hill arrives there from a stopover in Japan on Sunday, diplomatic sources in Seoul said Thursday.
Hill told reporters in Washington, "Next week when we do meet in Beijing, there will be a separate bilateral mechanism to have a preliminary discussion" on North Korea¡¯s frozen accounts in the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, to be led by the U.S. Treasury Department. The North has boycotted six-party talks for over a year in protest against the U.S. freeze on US$24 million it has in BDA, identified by the Treasury as a ¡°primary money laundering concern." "We've had considerable discussion with [North Korea] on this matter, so much so that when I last saw the [North Korean] delegation, they said to us, ¡®We understand your position,¡¯¡± Hill claimed. It remains to be seen whether the revived six-party talks will achieve anything substantial.
The U.S. is reportedly willing to give North Korea written promise not to attack it if the North takes swift measures to dismantle its nuclear program, including a halt of operations at its nuclear reactors. A statement of principles agreed in the last round said, "The U.S. has no intention to attack or invade [North Korea] with nuclear or conventional weapons." That could now take concrete form as a document signed by President George W. Bush or other senior officials.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Song Min-soon on Thursday met U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow to talk about the planned meeting in Beijing.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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