No US decision on NKorea, terror list
NARITA, Japan (AFP) — The chief US nuclear negotiator on Tuesday pressed North Korea to do more to be removed from a list of nations supporting terrorism as he arrived for a fresh round of disarmament talks.
Christopher Hill said he would meet in Beijing with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan on Wednesday, a day before the start of the next round of six-nation talks.
Hill arrived in Japan as US Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice reportedly said that Washington may remove North Korea from the list of terrorism sponsors without a resolution to a dispute over kidnappings of Japanese civilians.
"We are dealing with those issues but there has been no decision made," Hill said of removing North Korea from the blacklist.
"Obviously, this is something the DPRK very much wants but we've made it very clear it depends on further denuclearisation," Hill said, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Hill said he would "compare notes" with his Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae to coordinate their positions before the new round of talks.
Hill comes to Japan just as the moderate Yasuo Fukuda took over as prime minister, replacing Shinzo Abe, a sworn foe of North Korea.
Abe had urged the United States not to remove North Kea from the terrorist list due to North Korea's kidnappings of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s.
North Korea earlier this month said it had Hill's word it would come off the blacklist.
Apart from mandating US sanctions, inclusion on the US terror sponsor list also means the impoverished state is blocked from receiving loans from multilateral bodies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
