U.S. Envoy To N. Korea: Put Up Your Nukes

The chief U.S. envoy at North Korean nuclear talks urged leader Kim Jong Il to live up to a promise to hand over a complete list of nuclear efforts. Christopher Hill warned lawmakers Wednesday that disarmament negotiations are at a "critical, challenging" point.

The United States says the North has balked at providing a "complete and correct" disclosure of nuclear programs to eventually be dismantled; Washington has refused to take the North off a U.S. terrorism blacklist, a coveted goal of Pyongyang, until negotiators have the list.

"Let me be clear," Hill said at a Senate foreign affairs hearing. "'Complete and correct' means complete and correct. This declaration must include all nuclear weapons, programs, materials and facilities, including clarification of any proliferation activities."

His comments came a day after the director of U.S. intelligence, Mike McConnell, questioned North Korea's commitment to the stalled talks. McConnell also said the intelligence community believes North Korea continues to work on a secret uranium enrichment program and to sell its weapons around the world.

Hill noted that Kim Jong Il has said he is committed to the six-nation negotiations. "We intend to ensure that Pyongyang lives up to its word" to quickly submit a nuclear declaration.

North Korea has begun disabling its main nuclear facilities under an agreement with the other countries at the international arms talks: China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S.

But the talks have faced an impasse since the North missed a Dec. 31 deadline on the declaration.

North Korea accuses the United States of failing to meet its commitments and claims it gave the U.S. a nuclear list in November. Washington says Pyongyang never produced a complete list.

Hill said North Korea must also address its alleged uranium enrichment program. The U.S. accused North Korea in 2002 of seeking to secretly enrich uranium in violation of an earlier disarmament deal, sparking the latest nuclear standoff.

North Korea has insisted it does not have an active uranium program, but Hill has said Pyongyang officials have promised they would address the issue to Washington's satisfaction.

While the United States cannot accept an incomplete declaration, Hill testified, there is reason to believe that progress can still be made. American experts at the North's reactor are taking steps so that the plutonium-making facility would require at least a year to become operational again.

Hill said "most of the agreed disablement tasks have been completed."