. 24/7 Space News .
US Cannot Accept "Partial Solution" To Korean Nuclear Crisis: Negotiator

AFP file photo of Christopher Hill (the United State's Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs) and Mr Ban Ki-moon (South Korea's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade) in Seoul. Hill has stressed that Washington would not reward North Korea for coming into compliance with any "past obligations."
Washington (AFP) Jun 14, 2005
The United States said Tuesday it would not settle for any piecemeal resolution to the nuclear crisis gripping the Korean peninsula, calling for the dismantlement of "all" North Korean atomic programs.

"We cannot accept a partial solution that does not deal with the entirety of the problem, allowing North Korea to threaten others continually with a revival of its nuclear program," said Christopher Hill, US President George W. Bush's chief negotiatior to six-party talks aimed at ending the crisis.

The United States sought "the dismantlement, verifiably and irreversibly, of all DPRK nuclear programs - nothing less," Hill told a Senate hearing on "Dealing with North Korea's nuclear program."

DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Hill is the US leader to the negotiations among the two Koreas, US, Japan, Russia and host China designed to woo North Korea to give up its nuclear arms in return for aid and security guarantees.

North Korea has refused to participate in the talks after attending three rounds hosted by China, citing US "hostility." It also rejected a US-led aid-for-disarmament plan.

Under the plan, North Korea would be given, among other rewards, multilateral security guarantees and energy aid by its neighbors if it agrees to end its nuclear weapons program.

Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, stressed that Washington would not reward North Korea for coming into compliance with any "past obligations."

"It has obligations. It was rewarded for those obligations. It can't then get out of compliance and then come back and expect to be paid twice for the same obligations," he said.

The US-North Korea nuclear standoff dates back to the last decade when Pyongyang agreed in 1994 to freeze its nuclear program in return for the construction of safe nuclear reactors for the impoverished country.

The pact fell through in October 2002 when Washington said North Korea, while freezing its plutonium-based program, had admitted secretly using a different route to nuclear weapons, helped by Pakistan.

The United States charged that North Korea began seeking nuclear weapons fuel through uranium enrichment while the ink was still wet on the 1994 accord.

Hill questioned North Korea's seriousness in wanting to end its nuclear weapons program.

"The North has cited a variety of pretexts for refusing to rejoin the talks, even as it restates its commitment to the six-party process and the goal of a denuclearized Korean peninsula," he said.

"That casts increasing doubts on how serious the DPRK really is about ending its nuclear ambitions," he said.

"Frankly, we don't at this point know the answers," he said but added that "certainly, the developments we have seen on the part of the North Koreans have not been encouraging."

Hill cited Pyongyang's failure to abide by its commitment to another round of the six-party talks as well as its persistent boasts of its nuclear weapons capability.

Just last week, Pyongyang announced it had enough nuclear weapons to defend itself against an attack by the United States and was building more.

All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express

North Korea Has Nuclear Bombs, Building More: Official
Washington (AFP) Jun 09, 2005
North Korea has a stockpile of nuclear bombs and is building more such weapons, the country's vice foreign minister Kim Gye Gwan said in a US television interview released Wednesday.



Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only














The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.