Hill to meet Kim Kye-gwan on verification protocol for fresh 6-way talks

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) -- Chief nuclear envoys from North Korea and the
United States will meet in Singapore Friday to try to nail down how far
inspectors can go in verifying the North's nuclear inventory, U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Thursday.

"What we need to do is to make sure that the verification protocol is one that
clarifies issues -- so that there won't be misunderstandings when we get to the
actual verification," Hill told reporters upon arriving in Singapore, according
to a transcript released by the State Department.
Hill said he will meet with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan at
the U.S. embassy in Singapore late Friday morning.
The outgoing Bush administration's point man on North Korea held a meeting with
his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo Wednesday to coordinate their
positions.
South Korean officials said Hill and Kim might discuss producing a side agreement
on taking samples from North Korea's nuclear facilities, the sticking point in
the more than five years of on-and-off North Korean nuclear disarmament talks.
"I think we do have an understanding on how to go forward, so we'll see what it
looks like. But I'm not here to negotiate anything; we'll be doing that in
Beijing on Monday," he said.
Singapore is where Hill met with Kim in May to make a breakthrough in the stalled
six-party talks in the form of a side agreement that sidestepped such sensitive
issues as North Korea's suspected uranium-based nuclear program and nuclear
proliferation to Syria.
Based on a verification agreement, the United States removed North Korea from its
terrorism blacklist in October, but then Pyongyang denied it had agreed to allow
inspectors to take samples, leading to the latest standoff.
In an apparent last-minute effort to rescue the fragile North Korean
denuclearization talks in the waning weeks of the Bush administration, Hill is
traveling back to Seoul and Beijing later this week.
Some analysts, however, say Hill's efforts may not pay off, interpreting the
North's intransigence as a refusal to deal further with the Bush administration,
which ends Jan. 20.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week that another round of the
six-party talks will be held in Beijing Monday, but China, host of the talks, has
yet to make an official announcement. The talks were last held in July.
A U.S. official, asked if the North Koreans will show up in Beijing, said, "We
need to wait and see what's happening in Singapore. Nothing is sure as far as
North Koreans are concerned."
Hill said he expected to have fresh six-party talks in Beijing Monday to "arrange
for the protocol and verification ... to look at the fuel delivery ... to look at
the schedule of disablements."
U.S. officials have said they wanted to complete the second phase of the North
Korean nuclear deal before January so the Obama administration can pick up from
that point. Obama has said he will continue the six-party talks but will
complement them with more direct negotiations.
Disabling North Korea's nuclear facilities is the second phase of a deal signed
by the six parties -- the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. In
exchange, North Korea will get one million tons of heavy fuel or equivalent aid.
The third and last phase aims for the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear
facilities and programs in return for a massive economic aid and diplomatic
recognition by Washington and Tokyo.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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