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Chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill was in Pyongyang on Thursday and Friday. With the transfer of North Korea¡¯s money from a Macau Bank, the main obstacle to the North doing its part under a Feb. 13 denuclearization deal is out of the way; it remains to be seen whether Hill's surprise visit can speed up the shutdown of its nuclear facilities and normalization of ties between the U.S. and the North.
Hill flew in on a military aircraft out of the U.S. air base in Osan, south of Seoul shortly after arriving in South Korea from Japan on Thursday morning. He arrived in Pyongyang at 12:35 p.m. and returns to Osan on Friday afternoon before flying back to Washington. Hill, an assistant secretary of state, is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the Stalinist nation in the four years and eight months since a trip by his predecessor James Kelly.
But the process is more reminiscent of an exchange of visits in 2000 between U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright and Vice Marshal Cho Myong-rok to discuss normalization of ties. At the time, Cho delivered a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to president Bill Clinton, and Albright met with Kim on her reciprocal visit.
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U.S. chief nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill shakes hands with Ri Gun, the director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's America bureau on arrival in Pyongyang on Thursday. "We hope we can make up for some time we lost this spring," Hill said on arrival. /Korean Central News Agency-Yonhap
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She met the all top leaders in the party, government and military and also discussed the possibility of a visit by Clinton and the issue of North Korea¡¯s missiles, plus a peace framework for the Korean Peninsula. If Clinton had not been in his lame-duck phase by then, it could have led to historic first visit by a U.S. president to the renegade nation. But with George W. Bush elected president that November, relations were set for another ice age.
Washington expects Hill's visit to serve as a catalyst for early implementation of the Feb. 13 agreement, although some in the Bush administration felt Hill should have visited only when the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon have been shut down. Instead, the U.S. may consider sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once that happens, a diplomatic source in Washington said.
China and Japan are watching Hill's visit to Pyongyang with cautious optimism, though Tokyo once again stressed the issue of the Japanese citizens abducted by the North in the 1970s and 80s.
In China on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Beijing hopes the visit ¡°will be conducive to implementing the initial actions¡± under the February accord ¡°and be of benefit to improving relations between North Korea and the U.S." He said the Chinese government was informed in advance of Hill's visit. Qin added the six-party talks framework is subdivided into a few working groups, each of which ¡°uses a variety of negotiation methods.¡±
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan will watch and see how Hill's visit develops. ¡°North Korea has yet to carry out its initial steps and it is important that these measures are first fulfilled,¡± he said. Earlier, Foreign Minister Taro Aso spoke with Rice on the phone, asking for Hill to convey a message that Japan is also willing to normalize ties and hopes in return for a swift resolution of the abduction issue.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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