Remarks to the Media Outside the Tokyo American Center

QUESTION: How was your meeting with the Diet members?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: It was very nice. We had a good exchange of views. They gave me a lot of suggestions. They are very knowledgeable, and they know the situation on the Korean Peninsula very well. So it was extremely useful to me. I hope it was useful to them.

QUESTION: What was the main topic?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: The overall Six-Party process, Japan's interest in the Six-Party process. As you know, Japan has a big interest on the abduction issue, but also an interest in denuclearization and an interest in dealing with the missile problem. So the effort was to talk about all of these different Japanese interests and also the question of, with a new South Korean government, what are the prospects of working together on that in a three-party context -- you know, the three democracies in the Six-Party process, the three baseball-playing countries in the Six-Party process -- and can we do more together?

QUESTION: Did you discuss the possibility of delisting from the state sponsors of terrorism list?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Not directly. I mean, it came up a few times. We agree that the media ask too many questions on that. I'm kidding.

QUESTION: Was there much concern about the abductee issue?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, we talked a lot about that, sure. But we also talked about the concern about denuclearization and the missile issue, which often people don't talk enough about. But the missile issue is of great interest to Japan.

QUESTION: Who initiated this meeting?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I don't know. I just go where I'm told to go, and so I was told to go here. But it wasn't me. It was either our Embassy, or I'm not sure.

QUESTION: The Chinese proposal -- there's been reports coming out saying that it was focused on sequencing, having the U.S. take North Korea off the state sponsor list soon after they declare their activities. Is that something you might consider?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’m not too worried about the sequencing, as I've mentioned a couple times. What I'm really worried about is getting a complete and correct declaration. Once we know the North Koreans are prepared to do that, I'm sure we can handle any sequencing issues. But they need to come clean on all their programs and make sure that we're not keeping any secrets here, because we need to move ahead together.

QUESTION: Will it take a bit of time to actually verify that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, verification of course is embedded in everything we do. Obviously there are some important elements on the declaration that will need to be verified. But, again, I'm not too worried about that. I think we can do that. What I really want to do -- You just get on to the main event, which is phase three, and let's see if we can finish this job of denuclearization. It's going to be very ambitious, but let's see if we can get it done this year.

QUESTION: Saiki-san said at the Foreign Ministry that he thinks that there is still a long way to go before we make progress. Do you think that's a fair assessment?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, there is a long way to go. So that is fair. But we've come a long way, too. So that's fair too. See you all later.

QUESTION: I can't help but ask, you're going back to LA, right?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’m going back to LA. I'm going to San Diego. And then believe it or not, I get on an airplane and come back to Korea. But sometimes scheduling is difficult. All right, see you later.