U.S. envoy prods N. Korea on deadline
BEIJING - The top U.S. nuclear envoy insisted yesterday that North Korea act on its promises to begin nuclear disarmament, hours before a deadline the communist nation was expected to miss to shut down its main reactor.
BEIJING - The top U.S. nuclear envoy insisted yesterday that North Korea act on its promises to begin nuclear disarmament, hours before a deadline the communist nation was expected to miss to shut down its main reactor.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill did not say what the consequences would be if the North missed today's deadline to begin shutting down its sole operating nuclear reactor at Yongbyon as part of an agreement with the United States and regional powers.
So far, the North has refused to take action because of a dispute over the release of North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank.
"There is no reason why [North Korea] can't get on with the task of denuclearization," Hill said.
"We are not indifferent to missing a deadline," Hill told reporters in Beijing, where he will meet today with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei. "Obviously it is a very important date. We will work with our other partners on the appropriate response to the current circumstances."
As part of the disarmament agreement, the North was supposed to gain access to $25 million in frozen funds at the Banco Delta Asia bank in the Chinese territory of Macau. The bank was blacklisted by Washington in September 2005 for allegedly helping the North launder money and pass counterfeit $100 bills.
The funds were unblocked this week, but North Korea's Foreign Ministry said yesterday that it was still confirming the release. The ministry said the country would carry out its side of the February agreement "when the lifting of the sanction is proved to be a reality."
North Korea alarmed the world in October when it conducted an underground nuclear test. After a 13-month boycott of talks with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, it agreed in February to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for energy aid and political concessions, along with a U.S. promise to resolve the bank issue.
Macau's Monetary Authority, which has taken control of the bank, has been tight-lipped on releasing the frozen funds.
Hill said the United States considered the problem resolved.
"It's certainly worrisome to all of us to see them approaching this date rather lethargically," he said. ". . . We understood their concerns about the banking issue, and frankly those concerns have been met."
U.S. officials and experts say the process of shutting down a reactor and having U.N. nuclear inspectors verify it would take at least several days - making it virtually impossible for the North to meet today's deadline.
Hill would not say how long the other countries would wait for North Korea to act on its promises.
"I don't want to put a date or an hour," he said, "but another month is not in my constitution."
