Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the US will use diplomatic efforts to solve the North Korean nuclear issue.

 

"We are certainly very interested in getting the diplomatic track going," Hill told journalists in Shanghai yesterday morning, a few hours before departing for Seoul to hold talks with his South Korean counterparts.

 

He said the US has been working very closely with China. "We are not asking China to take any measures to revise any inducements to North Korea. We want the North to come back to the talks and implement what they agreed to."

 

A declaration made by the six parties in September last year called for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. But North Korea has refused to return to the talks since last November unless US lifts its financial sanctions.

 

Hill, who arrived in China from Japan last Tuesday, believes North Korea should be happy with the agreement reached last September. "There is a lot out there from last September, all the benefits the North needs," he said.

 

"If they look very carefully, they should see they have been offered a very good deal and have everything they want," he said.

 

But Hill also acknowledged that North Korea was monitoring the Iran situation to look for similar deals.

 

"There is no reason for the other five partners to sit down to look for more inducements to get the North back to the table. It's clearly in their interests to accept the deal," he said.

 

Hill said the US wanted to work very closely with China on the implementation of UN Resolution 1695, which condemned North Korea after it tested seven missiles in July.

 

"The real value of that resolution is to call on all members to take strong measures to be vigilant of North Korea's acquisition of weapons of mass destruction, finance and technology," Hill said.

 

China has opposed any economic sanctions on North Korea.

 

Hill said he would not like to speculate on a possible test of nuclear weapons by the North, but said "this will be the most unwelcome development, a step that will greatly hurt and isolate the North and lead it to a much weakened position."

 

He said that while it's up to the highest level in the US to make decisions on how to respond to such a situation, the US has had intensive discussions with partners of the talks about this eventuality.

 

Hill praised China for its role in the six-party talks. "If you look at China-US diplomatic cooperation, you will not find a better example than the talks."

 

(China Daily September 12, 2006)