HANOI (AFP) — Chief US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said Monday North Korea could learn from Vietnam, on a visit to the former US enemy nation that has emerged from war and isolation to see rapid economic growth.
Hill, speaking in Hanoi on the last day of a 16-day Asian tour that included three stops in Beijing, also said he hoped six-party talks to end North Korea's nuclear programme could resume before the end of the month.
"In terms of advice, certainly Vietnam has a lot to offer North Korea," he said. "Vietnam has come through a very difficult past, some very painful moments in the past, and Vietnam has made some very good decisions.
"We can see Vietnam's economy beginning to grow in a sustained way," he said, adding that he was expecting to discuss with Vietnamese officials the dates for a visit to Washington by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
"There is a lot of inspiration for other countries to look at Vietnam, and I hope that North Korea could look at Vietnam's successful experiences and perhaps learn something from Vietnam," Hill told a media briefing.
Isolated North Korea staged its first nuclear test in October 2006.
It later returned to six-party talks, but a disarmament deal reached a year ago has been held up since the North missed an end-2007 deadline to disable its main atomic facilities and declare all nuclear programmes.
Hill -- who at the weekend left Beijing without having met a North Korean envoy as he had hoped -- was asked at the Hanoi media briefing when he thought the multilateral talks to denuclearise North Korea could continue.
"We first need to get through this problem of getting a complete and correct declaration" of North Korea's nuclear programme, he said, adding that he thought this would be possible "in the next few weeks."
"Time is short, and I would hope we can get on with that this month," he said, stressing that the timing would also depend on the Chinese hosts of the talks between the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
Asked about a weekend visit to the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, Hill said: "I think he's gone to the Chinese embassy before... I don't think it was related to the talks I was having in Beijing."
He added: "We are hopeful that we can find a formula for moving forward, but what we need from the North Koreans is a willingness to give us a complete and correct declaration" of its nuclear programmes.
"We look forward to meeting with the North Koreans and working toward that end," he said.
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