US Cites Signs of Progress on North Korean Nuclear Issue | Voice of America - English
The State Department said Thursday there is "increasing confidence" among U.S. officials of progress in the stalled diplomatic process aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will try to advance the issue in a trip to Asia next week.
Officialshere decline to elaborate on an assertion by Secretary Rice that NorthKorea will "soon" make the long-awaited declaration on its nuclearprogram. But at the same time, they say recent diplomaticcontacts on the issue are giving rise to at least cautious optimismthat the six-party process - now more than six months behind schedule -may soon be moving again. North Korea agreed last year toeventually scrap its nuclear program, including weapons, in return forenergy aid and diplomatic benefits from the other parties to thetalks-the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea. Thecurrent phase of the process was to have been capped at the end of lastyear by a North Korean declaration of all its nuclear holdings andactivities, including any involvement in proliferation. SecretaryRice told Washington's conservative Heritage Foundation late Wednesdaythat North Korea will soon hand over the declaration to China, thechair of the talks, and that the United States would be ready toreciprocate by removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors ofterrorism and dropping related sanctions. In a talk withreporters, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey refused to saywhat specifically was behind Rice's assertion but spoke of a generallyhopeful mood in recent Korea diplomacy. "I think this is justthe result of a lot of extensive discussions and work, and I think anincreasing confidence that we're getting to the end of this particularphase," he noted. "But I am hesitant to declare any kind of certaintyon this, and I think as she [Rice] said one has to remain fairlyskeptical in this process as we move forward. We will know that we havea declaration when we actually have it." U.S. diplomacy on theissue is accelerating. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill,the chief U.S. delegate to the six-party talks, consulted Thursday inTokyo with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts and is to go onto similar meetings with Chinese officials in Beijing. The six-party process is also expected to be a key issue for SecretaryRice, who attends a meeting of G-8 foreign ministers next week inJapan, and continues on to South Korea and China. Spokesman Casey saidin addition to political talks with Chinese officials in Beijing, Ricewill pay a condolence visit to Chengdu, the central Chinese cityravaged by last month's earthquake. The Secretary begins the week-longforeign trip next Monday in Germany. Ina related issue, spokesman Casey rejected an assertion in a  story Thursday that the Bush administration, focused on thenuclear talks, has "largely forgotten" about the case of a Korean-bornU.S. permanent resident abducted by North Korea. The saidU.S. resident Kim Dong-shik, a Christian missionary, was abducted byNorth Korean agents in northeastern China in 2000, after apparentlyangering the Pyongyang government by helping North Koreans flee theirhomeland. Casey said U.S. officials remain aware of, andcontinue to pursue the case of Kim, which he noted is prominentlymentioned in the State Department's annual global reports on both humanrights and religious freedom. Casey also said the six-partyprocess is not intended to resolve every problem in U.S.-North Koreanrelations. He said even if it leads, as envisaged, to normal relations,there will still be hundreds if not thousands of outstanding issuesbetween the two countries.