Hill On Arrival at Beijing Capital Intl. Airport

Remarks on Arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport

Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Beijing, China December 17, 2006

QUESTION: How are you? [Inaudible] …to stop building a nuclear weapon, would you consider that, could you accept?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: This is the first session of the Six Party Talks -- the first session we’ve had since November 2005 -- so what we’re trying to do is make progress on the September 2005 agreement. What the DPRK needs to do is get serious about denuclearization; that’s their issue. If they get serious about denuclearization, a lot of good things can happen. If they’re not serious about denuclearization, nothing is going to go right.

QUESTION: [Inaudible]

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I think the DPRK knows well that there are two UN Security Council Resolutions: 1695, 1718. They remain in affect as long as the DPRK is not denuclearized. If they want to get out from under these sanctions, they should denuclearize. And I think they knows what they have to do. We have some ideas for proceeding this week. We’ve tried to prepare for this round very carefully. We’ve worked a lot with our partners. I met with the DPRK representatives a few weeks ago. We’re very much ready, we come here in the spirit of trying to get something done, to get something real accomplished. But it’s going to be up to the DPRK. OK, I’ve got to get going, see you later.

Released on December 17, 2006

ENDS

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