U.S. Revives Nuke Talks With North Korea

The U.S. entered revived nuclear talks with North Korea on a positive note Tuesday in the wake of Pyongyang's shutdown of its sole operating reactor, with the chief American envoy saying the North had not raised any fresh obstacles to disarmament.

"I think we're all in the same ballpark," Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said after a series of meetings with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye Gwan, ahead of the formal start of six-nation nuclear talks Wednesday in Beijing.

"We had a good discussion — at this point there are no show-stoppers," Hill told reporters.

Hill repeated his desire to have the North disable its nuclear facilities by the end of the year, following on its weekend shutdown of its sole operating reactor.

"I laid out my view on how this could be done, and I think we had a good discussion on that basis," he said of his talks with Kim. "I think people are feeling pretty confident about our six-party process."

The Saturday shutdown of the Soviet-era Yongbyon reactor that produces plutonium for use in bombs was North Korea's first step toward halting production of atomic weapons since the nuclear standoff began in late 2002. The North conducted its first-ever nuclear test explosion last October.

Talks this week were expected to focus on setting a schedule for North Korea to declare all its nuclear programs and then disable them so they cannot be easily restarted. The North has pledged in principle to eventually abandon its nuclear facilities.

Before leaving Pyongyang on Tuesday, Kim told broadcaster APTN that closing the reactor meant the process was moving into a second phase.

"There should be discussion on how to define the targets of the second phase, the obligations for each party, and also the sequence of the actions," he said at the airport.

The North has repeatedly stressed it will move only under the principle of "action for action," meaning that it is rewarded along the way as it moves to disarm.

Looming as a first hurdle will be North Korea's declaration of its nuclear facilities and whether it publicly acknowledges the uranium enrichment program that the U.S. accused it of having in 2002, sparking the nuclear crisis.

But Hill gave signs Tuesday that the U.S. could compromise on the timing for getting a comprehensive list of the North's programs.

"I don't like to get into a situation where if we don't nail down the declaration, then we can't start any disablement," he said. "I want to have a little flexibility on that."

North Korea has begun receiving 50,000 tons of oil from South Korea as a reward for the shutdown, and is to eventually receive the equivalent of 1 million tons for disabling the facilities, which the U.S. hopes is completed this year.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have verified the reactor closure and were also in the North to seal other facilities including two dormant construction sites for larger reactors that could be used to help make weapons.