U.S. top negotiator to six-party talks says things will appear on paper

Christopher Hill, top U.S. negotiator to the six-party talks, said Thursday in Beijing that the talks were "moving into the phase that things will start appearing on paper".

Hill told reporters in his hotel that he would discuss with the Chinese side about that on Thursday morning but resisted giving other specific elements.

Hill will also meet with delegations of Japan and the Republic of Korea on Thursday afternoon. "I assume, not scheduled yet, to see the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)," he added.

As to the financial disputes between the United States and the DPRK, Hill reiterated that the financial issue was separate from the denuclearization issue.

Hill said the DPRK had a great deal of problem in separating those issues and it was difficult to engage the DPRK on the other subjects when it had come in with a very strong view on the financial issues.

"This is a challenge that we face", said Hill, adding that he would rather not obscure the urgent denuclearization problem by talking about finances.

Calling his counterpart from the DPRK Kim Gye-gwan a veteran negotiator on the six-party talks, Hill said Kim "has the ability to reach a deal along the lines of the kinds of elements we've been talking about over the past six weeks".

Hill said the parties needed to get on with the task of implementing the September joint statement and "implementation means real things."

When asked whether the United States would offer a written pledge for not to attack the DPRK, Hill said there had been a security assurance given by the United States in the September joint statement and there had been no further development on that.

U.S. Treasury Department's deputy assistant secretary Daniel Glaser had left here Thursday morning for home after holding talks with the DPRK on the financial sanction issue.

Glaser, who is leading the U.S. delegation, held talks with President of the DPRK's Foreign Trade Bank O Kwang Chol on Tuesday and Wednesday in the U.S Embassy and DPRK Embassy respectively.

Financial sanction imposed on the DPRK was one of the key stumbling blocks that stalled the six-party talks since September 2005.

The financial talks were held on the sidelines of the fresh meeting of the six-party talks, which entered the fourth day on Thursday.

Hill said the talks were not an easy case and he did not want to predict whether the talks would succeed or fail.

Hill also noted he considered the six-party talks as a major opportunity for the United States and China to work together frankly on central issues of common concern.

Source: Xinhua