U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill arrived at the vast walled compound in Beijing's diplomatic district shortly before noon (11 p.m EST) to meet Kim Kye Gwan, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.
No details of the talks were known. Hill said on his arrival in Beijing on Monday — a day before Kim arrived — that he had told the North Koreans he was available for a meeting but did not know if there would be one.
Hill said that North Korea needs to make a proper declaration of its nuclear programs, facilities and fissile materials to revive the process under which it will receive diplomatic support and energy assistance in return for abandoning its drive to produce atomic energy, and, Washington claims, nuclear weapons.
North Korea was supposed to declare its nuclear programs by the end of 2007 to the five other countries involved in the talks. Pyongyang said it produced a list in November, but Washington has maintained that the information was inadequate.
"We're a little stuck on the need for a complete and correct declaration," Hill told reporters.
We're a little stuck. So we keep on talking? Suits me just fine. I wasn't worried we'd surrendered with our agreement a year ago to agree. If we can stretch this out, North Korea gets weaker every day and less able to use force as an alternative to extorting money from us.
And not even a Kucinich aministration could surrender fast enough to make this a one-year gamble for Pyongyang. A new administration will take time to get their positions in order and more time to send Albright back to Pyongyang for a proper dance. And who knows, given the results of the 1994, maybe even Albright wouldn't be dense enough to make the same kind of agreement one more time.
Talk, talk. Die, die.
