The Associated Press

Wed, Mar 26, 2008 (2:27 a.m.)

The chief U.S. envoy at North Korean nuclear disarmament talks says back-channel diplomatic discussions with North Korean officials could break an impasse in negotiations.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill did not provide details Tuesday on how the United States might persuade North Korea to hand over a promised declaration of all its nuclear efforts that had been due at the end of last year; nor did he provide a time frame.

But Hill told an audience at the Atlantic Council on Tuesday that talks between U.S. and North Korean officials continue through diplomatic channels in New York, where the North has a U.N. delegation.

"Some of those discussions, some of the specific things that we've been talking about, I think, could lead to a resolution of this," Hill said.

"It's my view, and this is really a guess, that if the six-party talks fail, it will not be for a lack of a declaration. We will get through this phase," he added, referring to the North's promise to provide negotiators a list of its nuclear efforts.

The problem, Hill said, will be the next phase called for in the six-nation nuclear deal, where the North must abandon and turn over the nuclear material it already has produced. "This will be a big challenge," he said.

He acknowledged that there are questions about whether disarmament could happen before President Bush leaves office in January. "I cannot predict the future on these things, except to say we've got to get moving in the next few weeks, because I think time is really wasting," Hill said.

Six-nation nuclear talks are deadlocked over whether North Korea has given a full declaration of its nuclear programs under a disarmament-for-aid deal. The North says it gave the U.S. a nuclear list last year. The United States insists North Korea has not produced a "complete and correct" declaration that deals with U.S. claims of a secret uranium enrichment program and past nuclear proliferation.

If the North should give up its nuclear weapons and rejoin the international nonproliferation treaty, Hill said, South Korea, Russia, Japan, China and the United States are prepared to offer a host of concessions.

Besides full North Korean-U.S. diplomatic relations, Hill said, the United States and others "would be prepared to discuss with them their desire for a civil nuclear program."

"What North Korea needs to decide is: Does it want to keep its aspirations for nuclear weapons in lieu of all these other elements?" Hill said.

North Korea is eager for energy sources and long has coveted a light-water nuclear reactor, which cannot be used easily to make radioactive materials for weapons. The United States and the other countries in the arms talks have agreed to discuss providing the North with the reactors at an appropriate time.

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On the Net:

North Korea: http://www.state.gov/p/eap/ci/kn/