Disabling N Korea’s nukes almost complete: US

WASHINGTON—North Korea has nearly completed disabling its nuclear facilities but has not made a complete declaration of its atomic arsenal, a top US negotiator said Wednesday.
“Most of the agreed disablement tasks at the three core facilities have been completed,” said Christopher Hill, the envoy to the six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons drive, told a Congressional hearing.
US experts are on the ground overseeing the disablement of the facilities at the key Yongbyon nuclear complex, where plutonium was produced and believed to have been used to make a nuclear bomb that Pyongyang exploded in October 2006.
Hill said North Korea had still not submitted a “complete and correct” declaration of its nuclear programs after failing to meet a December 31 deadline despite prodding by the United States and others.
“We intend to ensure that Pyongyang lives up to the word by submitting to the Chinese chair as soon as possible a declaration that is in fact complete and correct,” he told senators at the hearing on the status of the six-party talks chaired by China. The other parties are the United States, Russia, the two Koreas and Japan.
The chief U.S. envoy at North Korean nuclear talks urged leader Kim Jong Il to live up to a promise to hand over a complete list of his country’s nuclear efforts. Christopher Hill warned lawmakers Wednesday that disarmament negotiations are at a “critical, challenging” point.
The United States says North Korea has balked at providing a “complete and correct” disclosure of nuclear programs to eventually be dismantled; Washington has refused to take the North off a U.S. terrorism blacklist, a coveted goal of Pyongyang, until negotiators have the list.
“Let me be clear,” Hill said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. “‘Complete and correct’ means complete and correct. This declaration must include all nuclear weapons, programs, materials and facilities, including clarification of any proliferation activities.”
His comments came a day after the director of U.S. intelligence, Mike McConnell, questioned North Korea’s commitment to the stalled talks. McConnell also said the intelligence community believes North Korea continues to work on a secret uranium enrichment program and to sell its weapons around the world.
Hill noted that Kim Jong Il has said he is committed to the six-nation negotiations. “We intend to ensure that Pyongyang lives up to its word” to quickly submit a nuclear declaration, he said. North Korea has begun disabling its main nuclear facilities under an agreement with the other countries at the international arms talks: China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S.
But the talks have faced an impasse since the North missed a Dec. 31 deadline on the declaration. North Korea accuses the United States of failing to meet its commitments and claims it gave the U.S. a nuclear list in November. Washington says Pyongyang never produced a complete list.
Hill said North Korea must also address its alleged uranium enrichment program. The U.S. accused North Korea in 2002 of seeking to secretly enrich uranium in violation of an earlier disarmament deal, sparking the latest nuclear standoff.
North Korea has insisted it does not have an active uranium program, but Hill has said Pyongyang officials have promised they would address the issue to Washington’s satisfaction.
While the United States cannot accept an incomplete declaration, Hill testified, there is reason to believe that progress can still be made. American experts at the North Korean reactor are taking steps so that the plutonium-making facility would require at least a year to become operational again.—Agencies