US 'skeptical' about NKorea nuclear declaration

US 'skeptical' about NKorea nuclear declaration
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1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The White House said Wednesday that it was "skeptical" that North Korea would ever give a full accounting of its nuclear programs after the Stalinist regime missed a December 31 deadline to do so.

"We still have not heard from the North Koreans as to when they will provide a complete and accurate declaration," said spokeswoman Dana Perino. "They missed the deadline, and we are waiting to hear from them."

Asked whether Washington thought Pyongyang would fully unveil its atomic programs, Perino replied: "We don't have any reason to believe that they won't, but we are skeptical, given the length of time that it's taken."

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte will take up the issue in Beijing at regularly scheduled talks in "mid-January," said Perino. China hosts the six-country talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programs.

And Christopher Hill, the US envoy dealing with the scrapping of North Korea's nuclear programs, will travel to Asia at the end of the week, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday.

Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, will leave Thursday or Friday, said McCormack, who did not say where the diplomat would go or wether he would speak with North Korean officials.

Pyongyang was supposed to have completed the disablement of its nuclear plants and handed over its declaration by December 31 in return for one million tons of fuel oil or equivalent energy aid, and diplomatic benefits.

"I really don't have any time frame as to when we would get the declaration. We would like it as soon as possible. But we do want it to be complete and accurate because that's what they agreed to," said Perino.

"As we've dealt with North Korea over the past several years, it is only appropriate that we would be skeptical. This is a very closed society that has had a secret program that's been ongoing," she added.

The disablement, which began in November and is financed and supervised by the US, had been expected to miss the deadline for technical reasons.

But according to a report by Japan's Kyodo News, the North has also told the United States it is reducing the shifts of workers carrying out the operation.

A Pyongyang official reportedly warned last week of a slowdown because of a delay in providing the promised energy aid.

The United States, Japan and South Korea -- members of the negotiations along with Russia, China and the North itself -- expressed disappointment at the missed deadline.

North Korea now risks losing out on diplomatic and economic incentives promised in return for a full nuclear declaration, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Monday.

"This is an action-for-action process," he told reporters in Texas, where US President George W. Bush rang in 2008 on his ranch.

One problem with the declaration is reaching agreement on how much bomb-making plutonium was produced at the Yongbyon nuclear complex in the past. The North used some of this to stage its atomic weapons test in October 2006, lending greater urgency to the six-party process.

According to Japanese media reports, the North has told the US it produced 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of plutonium -- less than the 50 kilograms estimated by Washington.

A suspected uranium enrichment program -- the issue which in 2002 wrecked a previous disarmament deal -- is another key hurdle.

The United States says it has good evidence that Pyongyang imported material which could be used for such a program, even if it is not up and running. The North has never publicly admitted any such operation.