U.S. wants more from North Korea on nukes

Hill said Washington looks forward not only to eventual normalization of relations but to creating peace on the Korean peninsula and ensuring security in northeast Asia.

The United States has never had diplomatic relations with North Korea, which was created after World War II when Korea was split into a communist-dominated North and a U.S.-backed capitalist South.

In Tuesday's talks, Hill said one issue that was discussed was North Korea's desire to get off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Another issue was North Korea's desire to get off the list of countries subject to the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act, which would open the way for a normal trading relationship with the U.S. for the first time.

Speaking of North Korea, Hill said, "I think they would like to move to diplomatic relations, but I must say this is very much linked to denuclearization."

Hill wouldn't predict when the last piece of nuclear material will be taken out of North Korea, but said: "We believe that the faster we go the steadier we'll be."

"Let us do this step-by-step — get through 60 days and take the next thing, which I think is measured in months, and not years, and then go on from there," he said.

Hill said the six parties will meet March 19 in Beijing to make sure that all the required 30-day actions were met, including initial meetings of working groups on five issues.

Tokyo-Pyongyang issues
Envoys from Japan and North Korea met in Vietnam on Tuesday, ahead of two-day talks of their working group starting Wednesday aimed at establishing diplomatic relations.

Japan's chief envoy Koichi Haraguchi said Japan wants to spend ample time discussing North Korea's history of abducting of Japanese citizens. North Korea wants Japan to atone for the 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula and wartime atrocities, including sex slavery of tens of thousands of Korean women.

Hill said he had a long discussion with Kim about the Japanese abductions and made "a strong pitch" that it was "very important" for North Korea "to reach out and develop relations with Japan."

"I was pleased to see there was a positive understanding," he said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday that a senior aide to South Korea's president will visit North Korea this week and speculated his goal was to set up a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. But officials in Seoul denied a summit was in the works.

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