North Korea missed the first deadline for shutting down its nuclear facilities in accordance with a Feb. 13 six-nation agreement. Washington, however, avoided direct criticism of Pyongyang for missing the 60-day deadline and agreed to give it more time. ¡°China has asked us to be patient for three or four days, that seems like a wise thing to do. It's not for the U.S. to take unilateral actions,¡± U.S. top nuclear envoy Christopher Hill told reporters on Sunday, before returning home from a visit to Beijing. "We need to work closely, multilaterally with our partners.¡±
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Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator in talks over North Korea's nuclear issue, at left, briefs journalists at a hotel in Beijing, China on Sunday./AP
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Hill¡¯s Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei asked Hill to extend the deadline for North Korea to shut down a reactor in Yongbyon and allow the return of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. A senior State Department official told reporters in a telephone news conference that the U.S.¡¯ patience ¡°is not in infinite supply.¡± ¡°But we feel that given the kind of unexpected complexities that did arise in connection with some of the banking issues, that it's probably prudent to give this thing a few more days to see if the Pyongyang statement of April 13 is something they are going to follow through on,¡± she added.
The agreement requires North Korea to shut down nuclear facilities within 60 days, invite IAEA inspectors and report all of its nuclear programs. But the North delayed fulfilling its part of the deal citing the delayed transfer of assets which were frozen in the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia until late last week.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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