WASHINGTON _ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday she hopes North Korea will be ready to seriously discuss its nuclear disclosure when one of her diplomats visits Pyongyang.
Sung Kim, director of Korean affairs at the State Department, left for Asia earlier in the day and is expected to go to Pyongyang on Thursday. He stops first in Seoul on Tuesday and in Beijing on Wednesday. He is scheduled to return to Washington on Feb. 3.
He will consult with officials in the three countries "on how to move the six-party process forward," a department official said.
Negotiations aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula have been snagged since Pyongyang missed a crucial deadline at the end of last year to fully disclose its nuclear stockpile, a key component of the six-party talks that involve South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
The U.S. rejected what Pyongyang indicated it would declare, saying it failed to list all of the suspected facilities and materials believed to be in North Korea, as well as proliferation activities. The delay in the declaration, the "second phase" of the six-party agreement, consequently pushed back other obligations agreed to by the six parties, including disablement of Pyongyang's atomic facilities and North Korea's removal from the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring states.
In consecutive daily statements, Pyongyang accused Washington of reneging on its pledges, mainly removal from the terrorism list.
Rice said there has to be an accurate declaration "so that there is confidence going forward into the next phase," which is actual nuclear dismantlement.
"I am hopeful that the North is now ready to have serious discussions about that, and we will see," she said at a press conference after a meeting with her Australian counterpart, Stephen Smith.
Complete declaration and disablement is necessary for progress on meeting all of the obligations, said Rice.
"And the United States stands ready to fully discharge its obligations in the second phase, should North Korea discharge its obligations," she said.
(Yonhap)