Chief U.S. negotiator to the six-party talks Christopher Hill on Wednesday said the declaration process of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) nuclear programs would begin within the next two weeks.
Hill, also U.S. assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, made the remarks before a working dinner with the DPRK representatives.
He said he held a meeting with the DPRK's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan on Wednesday morning, during which the two sides focused on the review of various issues, especially on the disablement issue and how they would progress the way ahead till the end of the year.
Hill said he and Kim did discuss the date, how to and to whom the DPRK would hand out the declaration of its nuclear facilities and he also talked about the scope of disabling and some other technicalities.
Hill noted that the U.S and DPRK negotiators also talked about the work in 2008 when they would get into the next phase of irreversible disablement, the procedures for taking the DPRK off the blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, when to have a meeting to discuss financial issue such as giving the DPRK access to international financial markets, and general concerns about proliferation.
Hill said he and Kim held lengthy discussions on the issue of the abduction of Japanese nationals and he hoped the DPRK would make progress on this issue.
Hill told reporters that on Wednesday afternoon, he met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei and exchanged possible dates for a ministerial meeting among the parties to the six-party talks.
The six-party talks, initiated in 2003 and aimed at resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, involve China, the DPRK, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan.
