Afternoon Walkthrough With Reporters at Six-Party Talks

QUESTION: What kind of issues are you going to talk about with DPRK?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We’ve had some teams in the DPRK to discuss disabling, so we have a disabling plan ahead. I’m going to discuss those. And I’m going to discuss some of the measures we are doing on our side and brief the DPRK on how all that looks.

QUESTION: Do you plan to meet with them tonight?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think tomorrow, actually.

QUESTION: Do you expect they are going to bring a list of nuclear devices to be declared?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, I think we do plan to get going on the declaration, but probably not this week. I think that will start next week or the week after. We’ll have some people in the DPRK who will begin the disabling, but we will also have a head of the group that can also talk to them about the issue of providing the declaration. So I think that will get going very soon. It is very important that we do it soon rather than wait until the end of the year, because probably it will be going back and forth. There will be a lot of discussion about it. So the plan is that we will have a full declaration by the end of the year.

QUESTION: Are you going to inform North Korea when you can take off North Korea from the list of terrorism?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: We will definitely have further discussions on that point, on the terrorism list, yes.

QUESTION: Could you elaborate what kind of issues?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, I’m not going to elaborate, but we’ll have further discussions on that.

QUESTION: But you are talking about the timing of taking them off the list?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think we will.

QUESTION: Any reason why you are not meeting together [with the Six Parties] but you are seeing everybody in a different meeting?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Because these are just an initiative we are taking, because we have a number of bilateral issues that we want to talk to the DPRK about, and we want to keep the chair of the process informed -- that is, the Chinese. We also want to brief the other parties on what we are doing so that we continue the sort of openness of the Six-Party process. I don’t think there is any need to have a Six-Party meeting at this time. I know we are hopeful of setting up a ministerial later on this year. So I want to talk to the Chinese chair about that.

[Interruption] I’m sorry?

QUESTION: This year?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: This year, ’07. So we need to talk about the timing of that and whether we’ll have a Six Party meeting in advance of that. So there are a lot of issues to be discussed.

QUESTION: Did you agree on most of the disablement measures with North Korea?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes. We have a very clear plan ahead on that. There are some issues that need to be finalized, but we are beyond the issue that I described a month ago, where we want to do more and they want to do less. I think we are okay on that point.

QUESTION: Is the disablement team only a U.S. team or are there Japanese?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Our anticipation is that as the process goes forward, all members of the Six-Party process will be invited to take part. So whether it is on this team that goes in on Thursday or a team subsequent to this team, I would expect to see representatives of all the Six Parties on this.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, Happy Halloween, Happy Red Sox! Let me ask you about highly enriched uranium. It is coming to be crunch time towards the end of the year. How confident is the Bush Administration in its affirmation that there was a uranium program or still is at some point? And what is going to happen if they say there never was?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I can say that I’m not ready at this time to give a lot of details about our ongoing discussions on this -- except to say that when we met in Shenyang in the denuclearization working group there was a commitment made by the DPRK that this issue would be resolved to mutual satisfaction. That is, we would be able to resolve the concerns we had on this issue. Since that time, we’ve had a number of discussions. I’m confident that as we get to the end of the year, we will be able to achieve this result. That is, we will be able to resolve this matter to mutual satisfaction. I’m not prepared at this time to talk about the details of this, except to say that we’ve had some good discussions with DPRK representatives on this.

QUESTION: Is it possible that you could resolve it without their ever admitting that there was such a program?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well again, I don’t want to say how it will be resolved, except to say that I think we are making progress on that issue.

QUESTION: Mr. Hill, do you think you can take off North Korea from the list of terrorism sponsors this year, by the end of this year?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Again, I don’t want to get into details on that, except to say that you’ll recall that in February we committed to a process of removing them. I think it is important to understand that this terrorism list, which is a United States Government list, is a list that is in our interest -- it is in everyone’s interest -- that it be as short as possible. That is, we want to get countries off of it as countries qualify to be off it. That is, as they can show that they have severed any ties to terrorist groups or to terrorist action; that they have signed on to international procedures; that they are cooperating in the global war on terrorism. So all of these issues have to be addressed as countries are taken off. But I think it is in everyone’s interest that countries get taken off -- because when they are taken off the list, it means they are no longer state sponsors of terrorism. So that is certainly our desire, and that is how we are moving forward. I don’t want to give details at this point, but we will.

QUESTION: Will you raise the issue of Syria when you meet with the DPRK?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: The issue of proliferation is always an issue in the Six-Party process. We’ve raised proliferation issues in the past, and I would expect to continue to raise them in the future, obviously, as we go forward. We need to go forward in a spirit of increasing openness and trust. And to achieve that, we need to know things that have happened in the past and be assured that things that have happened in the past won’t happen in the future.

QUESTION: What is the plan for the rest of the day?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, I plan to put down my briefcase. I will probably take a rest in my room for 45 minutes, if that is okay with you all. Then I think I’m going to a reception at the American ambassador’s house. There are some distinguished Americans who are visiting here, including a distinguished baseball player named Cal Ripken. So I look forward to going to that. I think the denuclearization issues will start in the morning. So I don’t have any official meetings tonight, except to continue to enjoy the fact that the Red Sox have won their third World Series since 1918.

QUESTION: Tomorrow, where and what time are you going to meet with the DPRK?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: [Reporter shows Red Sox shirt] Hey, that looks great! (Laughter). Check with the Embassy, but I think the first meeting is at ten o’clock, and I think it’s with the DPRK. But I’m not very good on schedules, so you ought to check with someone else on that. I think it is at ten o’clock.

U.S. OFFICIAL: That is correct.

QUESTION: At the U.S. Embassy or North Korea?

U.S. OFFICIAL: The other one, yes. Not at ours.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think it is at the DPRK Embassy, but I have to go to the American Embassy early on. So I’ll probably go to the Embassy around 8 o’clock tomorrow morning.

QUESTION: Is Japan going to participate in providing heavy fuel oil?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’m sorry. Are you asking me if Japan is going to -- I don’t know of any developments in that, but I think you should ask the Japanese.

QUESTION: Are the shipments on schedule so far?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: So far, so good. I think the Chinese had a shipment a few weeks ago, and we put together our shipment. So I think things are on schedule on fuel oil.

QUESTION: Reports yesterday seemed that the North Koreans were a little skeptical that they are going to get (inaudible).

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think from what I’ve talked to our people about, we’ve arranged all those things and we are moving. I’m not aware of a problem.

Okay? So we’ll see you all later. Bye-bye.