Hill Admits Six Party Talks Stalled Again
Less than three months before the next election and after the United States gave up key demands on disclosure and disarmament, North Korea is balking at verification of even its limited nuclear disclosure. The talks are now stalled, but U.S. negotiator Chris Hill tells us that we must continue to be patient:
“As you know in the Six-Party process we’ve often suffered delays. We’re in another delay now, but I just want to stress that we are ready to de-list [North Korea from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism] as soon as we get a verification protocol that’s consistent with international standards. So let’s be patient here and see with what the DPRK [North Korea] comes back with. [Epoch Times]
Maybe we should start a pool on what Hill will try to give away next to achieve some more “momentum” (I vote for Tokdo). I should probably also record these famous last words:
“These are serious matters. It’s got to be real verification. We’re trying to verify the amount of plutonium that they are declaring, and in order to verify the amount of plutonium, there are certain things you have to do, and so I think those things are pretty internationally understood ….
Why do I have this nagging suspicion that even as we speak, Hill is looking for some way to water down verification until it’s such a sham that even the North Koreans will go along with it? I’ll probably be throwing Hill’s words back at him by late September.