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The U.S. chief nuclear envoy Christopher Hill has admitted that it is improbable North Korea will shut down its nuclear facilities by a mid-April deadline due to the delayed transfer of assets frozen in the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, AP reported. A Feb. 13 agreement reached in six-nation talks in Beijing requires the North to shut down its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon by April 14 in return for a first shipment of energy aid.
¡°Clearly, we're aiming for the complete implementation of the February agreement by day 60 ... but that timeline is becoming difficult,¡± AP quoted Hill as saying in Tokyo. The U.S. has given the green light to unfreezing the North¡¯s US$25 million bank accounts, but banks are reluctant to handle the transfer since the U.S. designated the funds as illegal.
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Kenichiro Sasae (R), Japanese chief negotiator for the six-nation talks, speaks after he met with his US counterpart Christopher Hill (R) at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Monday./AFP
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North Korea¡¯s chief negotiator Kim Kye-gwan on Monday said Pyongyang will allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit the North as soon as the money is unfrozen. He was quoted by an AP reporter who accompanied New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on his visit to North Korea.
But he added it was difficult to completely shut down the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon by Saturday, AP said. "They can make a beginning, but whether they can completely shut down a nuclear reactor in such a short time would be very difficult,¡± said former U.S. secretary of veterans affairs Anthony Principi, who met Kim with Richardson. Richardson told Kim that North Korea should demonstrate willingness to implement its obligations under the Feb. 13 agreement. He also reportedly asked for talks between concerned countries before Saturday.
The U.S. team, which also includes Victor Cha, director for Korea and Japan at the National Security Council, is scheduled to leave Pyongyang and travel to Seoul via the truce village of Panmunjom on Wednesday. The remains of six U.S. soldiers exhumed in North Korea will apparently be returned at the same time.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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