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The chief U.S. negotiator in six-nation nuclear talks, Christopher Hill, will visit Pyongyang between Dec. 3 and 5, a U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday. In a telephone interview with the Chosun Ilbo, the official said the department was still coordinating his schedule, but Hill will highly likely head to Pyongyang from Seoul. He is expected to talk with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan and meet other senior North Korean officials in Pyongyang. Asked if one such official is North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the U.S. State official only said it was "a senior [North Korean] official."
Hill will also meet North Korean military leaders. He will be accompanied by Sung Kim, the director of the Korean affairs desk at the State Department. Hill flies to South Korea on Thursday by way of Japan. Before departure from Washington, he told reporters at Dulles International Airport that North Korea will submit in a few days a declaration of its nuclear programs to China, the host country, as agreed in the six-party talks. When they meet in Beijing on Dec. 6, chief delegates will review the declaration and begin informal consultations on the next stages of dismantling the North Korean nuclear facilities, he added.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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