North Korea has expressed eagerness to move the denuclearization process forward in its latest communication with the United States, Washington’s top nuclear envoy said Wednesday.
"Mr. Kim Kye-gwan (North Korean nuclear envoy) was very careful not to describe the stalled North Korean nuclear issue as any kind of stalemate and he wanted to make clear that he and his government are prepared to try to make progress to get through this," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters after a meeting with South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo in Seoul.
(photo from Government Information Agency)
Hill said he reiterated the importance of the North’s providing a complete declaration as agreed to at last year’s aid-for-disarmament deal.
"I think Kim Kye-gwan fully understood our position and we promised to be in touch in days or weeks ahead," he said.
He was guarded about predicting the North’s next step, but said the North seems not to be ready yet to present a "satisfactory" declaration.
The North has maintained that it has neither been engaged in any uranium-enrichment activity nor had nuclear cooperation with any other country, according to Hill.
"He wanted to make it very clear that they are not at present having any nuclear cooperation with any other country and they will not in future," Hill said.
Meanwhile, Hill, the former U.S. ambassador to Seoul, received a high-profile medal from the South Korean government in recognition of his contributions to improving the alliance and dealing with the nuclear crisis.
Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, on behalf of President Roh Moo-hyun, on Wednesday presented the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Gwanghwa Medal to Hill.
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