B]U.S.: N. Korea agrees to disable nuke programs
Nation offers first timeline for negotiation, chief U.S. negotiator says**
North Korea agreed Sunday to account for and disable its atomic programs by the end of the year, offering its first timeline for a process long sought by nuclear negotiators, the chief U.S. envoy said.
Kim Gye Gwan, head of the North Korean delegation, said separately his country’s willingness to cooperate was clear — in return for “political and economic compensation” — but he mentioned no dates.
Hill, a U.S. assistant secretary of state, said two days of talks between the United States and North Korea in Geneva had been “very good and very substantive” and would help improve chances of a successful meeting later this month with Japan, Russia, South Korea and China in six-nation talks aimed at ending the North’s nuclear weapons program and improving relations between North Korea and other countries.
“**One thing that we agreed on is that the DPRK will provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear programs by the end of this year, 2007,”
Hill said the declaration will also include uranium enrichment programs, which the United States fears could be used to make nuclear weapons. **“When we say all nuclear programs, we mean all,” he said.
North Korea ‘happy’ with talks
He said later in response to a question from The Associated Press that it was the first time that North Korea had ever offered a timeline for declaring and disabling its nuclear program.
Kim said, “We agreed a lot of things between the United States and the DPRK. We are happy with the way the peace talks went.”