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)

"There is a very difficult and steep road ahead of us. We need to make sure that North Korea won't become hesitant or lose interest in going up that difficult and steep road," he said at the Beijing airport.

Negotiators also will discuss scheduling a meeting as soon as next month among foreign ministers of all six nations, likely also in Beijing ahead of an Asia-Pacific summit in Australia in early September.

He said the ministers' aim would be to issue a statement outlining the vision for a northeast Asian forum "where it can deal with the problems of trying to make this a better neighborhood."

Hill has frequently spoken of his aspiration that the six-nation talks could lead to a more lasting security system in a region with a long history of conflict over territory and other disputes.

Meeting a key North Korean demand, the United States is willing to start the process of removing the reclusive communist regime from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, Hill said.

"We'll see when we can complete that, because we'll see how far the North Koreans are prepared to move on denuclearization," he said.

The designation rankles the North, which has called for it to be lifted along with other economic sanctions before it moves ahead on nuclear disarmament. The North Korean regime has not been directly tied to any terrorist action since it planted a bomb on a South Korean plane in 1987.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on that issue it would be important for the North to work with Japan on its abductions of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s. Japan opted out of the aid provision part of the February nuclear deal, citing a lack of progress by North Korea in resolving questions about those kidnapped.

Hill said talks on replacing the Korean War cease-fire with a peace accord could start next year, "with understanding that we can't complete that until we complete denuclearization."

The United States fought alongside South Korea under a U.N. mandate in the 1950-53 conflict that ended in an armistice, leaving the sides still technically at war.

On Monday, South Korea sent the second of two initial shipments of what eventually will be 50,000 tons of oil to reward North Korea for the reactor shutdown. The first arrived Saturday, prompting North Korea to begin the shutdown at Yongbyon.

The North has been promised a total of 1 million tons of oil if it disables all its nuclear programs, and Hill said Washington would look at other incentives such as humanitarian aid.