U.S. Looking Beyond NKorea Nuke Shutdown

U.S. envoy on the North Korea nuclear issue, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, reacts as he talks with South Korean counterpart Chun Yung-woo during their meeting at the government house in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 16, 2007. North Korea is ready to start disabling its nuclear programs following the shutdown of its sole operating reactor, as long as Washington lifts all sanctions against the communist nation, a North Korean diplomat said. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, Pool) (Lee Jin-man - AP)

SEOUL, South Korea -- The United States is looking to build on momentum created by North Korea shutting down its nuclear reactor and will start deliberations on removing the regime from a list of terrorism-sponsoring states, the main U.S. envoy on the issue said Monday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill laid out a busy agenda for steps Washington hopes can be made in the reconciliation process as Pyongyang lays aside its nuclear weapons program.

Among them, he said, are negotiations on a permanent peace treaty to replace the 54-year-old cease-fire that halted the Korean War and talks on setting up a regional security forum in northeast Asia.

"If North Korea wants to denuclearize, all of this stuff is very doable," Hill said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Monday that the North had shut down its sole functioning nuclear reactor at Yongbyon as it said it had done Saturday, the first tangible progress from years of arms negotiations involving the U.S. and other regional powers.

"Our inspectors are there. They verified the shutting down of the reactor yesterday," IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said during a visit to Bangkok, Thailand. "The process has been going quite well and we have had good cooperation from North Korea. It's a good step in the right direction."

The State Department welcomed news of the shutdown, and said that by Wednesday the IAEA intends to have verified the status of two unfinished reactors, a spent fuel reprocessing facility and a fuel fabrication plant.

North Korea's top nuclear envoy, Kim Kye Gwan, and Hill met Tuesday in Beijing ahead of another round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, an American diplomat said. The U.S. Embassy official, who declined to be identified because of embassy policy, said the two met for lunch in Beijing's business district.

The six-party talks, which include host China, the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Russia, start Wednesday.

Kim told broadcaster APTN before departing Pyongyang for the talks that "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."

Diplomats are to discuss a timetable for further progress, and Hill said he hoped North Korea's nuclear facilities would be disabled _ meaning rendered unable to be restarted _ by year's end.

South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo said the closing of the nuclear reactor was important, but only a first step.