Six-Party Talks

“Substantial Start” Sought Toward Nuclear-Free Korean Peninsula

State’s Hill says there is basis for progress at February 8 Six-Party Talks

By Stephen Kafman
USINFO Staff Writer

Washington -- The United States believes there is a “basis for making progress” in the upcoming round of Six-Party Talks among North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, but its chief negotiator in the discussions also cautioned that there had been similar hopes preceding the previous round in December 2006 – a round that did not “fully meet our expectations.”

“I think we have a basis for calling the six-party meeting and for making some progress,” Ambassador Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told reporters at the State Department February 1.

The talks are scheduled to reconvene in Beijing February 8.  Prior to their resumption, Hill will meet with South Korean and Japanese officials in Seoul, South Korea, and in Tokyo, and plans to hold consultations with his Russian counterparts in Beijing.

Hill said in the opening round, the United States hopes the first “tranche” or section of measures outlined in the parties’ September 19, 2005, statement can be implemented, thereby beginning the full implementation of an agreement designed to remove nuclear programs from the Korean Peninsula.  more