Evening Walk-Through With Reporters at Six-Party Talks

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Hello. I don’t really have all that much for you. As you know, the Chinese circulated a draft. We put in some comments; so did the other delegations. I think we’re going to meet tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock and discuss the comments.

We don’t really have any substantive disagreements among the parties. The only issue is, do you want a statement with a lot of details, or do you want one that doesn’t have a lot of details. And so we’ll see where we are in the morning. But, I think there’s a pretty good consensus on the way ahead, and maybe at the conclusion of this round we can discuss what we’re going to be doing next. But I think we’re all pretty satisfied that we know the direction that we’re heading. We know what we’re going to try to accomplish by the end of the year.

We discussed fuel oil this morning and the overall issue of energy for the DPRK. As you may have heard, the Russians will be next in line with a tranche, after the U.S. tranche, which I think many of you noticed was announced in Washington. So I think we’ve kind of got a mechanism set up on that.

Again, there was a lot of discussion about what the statement should look like, with some delegations wanting every detail and other delegations rather having a broader political statement. So, as I said, we’ll see how we all feel tomorrow. But I don’t think we have any really substantive disagreements on where we’re going.

QUESTION: So do you think a joint statement will come out now?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think there will be some kind of statement, but I just don’t know how much detail there will be in the statement. Again, some delegations want a lot of detail. But when someone starts putting in detail and the other delegation wants a lot of detail on their issues, before you know it you’ve got something that’s longer than most people really want. So we’ll meet at 10 o’clock in the morning. We’ll see where we are.

QUESTION: Isn’t it hard to measure progress though if that detail isn’t in the document?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Oh, but I think there has been discussion in various working groups, and I think what’s key for us is that if you look at this plenary it’s a sum total of the working groups. So what we’ve done in the past is to make key decisions at the plenary. And in spending the last couple of days here, we’ve been discussing implementing a lot of nuts and bolts, a lot of very detailed stuff. So we have not had the key decisions that we had, for example, in February -- when we had that cliffhanger -- or back in September ’05. So we’ll see what it looks like in the morning. I think the Chinese are still working on all the comments, and we’ll see how we do.

QUESTION: Will there be a timeframe in that statement?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, I think we all know what the roadmap is. We all know that we’re trying to get some key things done by the end of December. So that’s agreed. Whether that’s reflected in the statement, I just don’t know what it’s going to finally look like.

QUESTION: Do you think terrorism list would be included into the document?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, you see that’s an example of going into some of the detail, and I think we still have to work that out in the morning -- on whether we have that kind of level of detail.

QUESTION: Do you think that it should be included?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Oh, you mean what is our view? I want to see how some of the other delegations regard it. I want to make sure that when we do things that we do it in a consensus position and everyone is satisfied with it. So I’m not going to state a position now and have to change it tomorrow morning.

QUESTION: [Inaudible]] dinner by the Chinese side?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, they don’t mix nice dinners with drafts. But afterwards they did. After the dinner we had a short meeting, and there was a discussion. They showed us some of the things they were doing, with the idea that we will talk about it in the morning.

Okay?

QUESTION: So is this the second draft that you’ve seen?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, it was a list of ideas. I hate to call these things drafts. Tomorrow morning, rather than try to describe everything tonight, it is much easier if when we meet in the morning we’ll know precisely what we are dealing with. And then I can describe it with certainty, rather than the way I’m describing it now -- with a lot of uncertainty, because we really don’t know what it is going to look like.

QUESTION: Do you now expect follow-up working groups?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes, I think there will have to be some additional meetings. That is for sure. Then we have to get on with some of the tasks that we’ve laid out. I think you will see -- whatever emerges in terms of a written product -- you will see a clear direction of activities afterwards. But rather than talk about them now, if you could just hold on until we actually have an agreement on what the announcement looks like, and then I can tell you what we are going to be doing.

QUESTION: Ambassador, you said this morning that there were still disagreements with the North Koreans about the terms of disablement. Have the differences been worked out?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We have some -- You are speaking to the question, scope of disablement. We’ve shared some ideas, and I think we can come to an agreement on that. But I don’t think you’ll see it in writing at this session.

QUESTION: Is it focused more on timing, deciding on a timeline?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think we are basically agreeing on timing. Again, it is a lot of nuts and bolts right now. It is a lot of things like what type of teams are going to engage in disablement? What is the sequence of our actions? Things like that. So it gets very specific. And then the question is, do you really want to capture it all in one document, or do you just want to say generally this is what we are doing -- we are implementing the working groups and get on with it. When you try to capture everything, then everyone has their own little thing they want to make sure is in there, and you end up in protracted discussions. (Ringing sound) It is very tough to talk when your cell phone is ringing.

QUESTION: Progress so far in this round of talks?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’m very pleased that we have a real way forward here. bI’m usually by this time, in these Six-Party things, I’m pretty beaten down. But I think we really have a very clear way forward. And rather than sit here and talk about it in Beijing, I’d like to get on with it, and I think we will.

VOICE: Thank you all very much.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Okay, thank you.

QUESTION: Can I ask you a question, sorry, about Myanmar? Have you had a chance to talk with China about Myanmar?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We have raised this with the Chinese. I haven’t raised it at the Six Party talks, but we have raised it with very senior Chinese. And, as you know the Foreign Minister was in Washington just yesterday. So we’ve had considerable discussions with the Chinese on this issue.

QUESTION: But you yourself haven’t yet?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Because I was at the Six-Party meetings.

QUESTION: Are you leaving tomorrow?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’m definitely leaving tomorrow. Definitely leaving tomorrow.

QUESTION: No extension of the meeting?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No extension. I did it today because we had the meeting, the dinner rather, with senior Vice Minister Dai Bingguo. But definitely leaving tomorrow. I have to. I have some obligations back in the States. I must leave tomorrow.

QUESTION: So about 9:30 tomorrow morning?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think I’ll be going through here around 9:30, but I’m not sure I’ll have much more for you than I have right now. So why don’t you sleep in?

Okay? See you later.