US urges North Korea to move quickly on nuke deal

SEOUL  ( 2008-04-01 20:54:56 ) : 

US negotiator Christopher Hill, who arrived on Tuesday in South Korea to discuss ways to restart stalled nuclear talks with North Korea, urged the communist state to move 'very quickly' to seal a deal.
"Obviously we are getting to the point where we need to make some progress very quickly," he told reporters at the airport, when asked about delays in the North's promised declaration of all atomic programmes and activities.
Hill said no candidate in the upcoming US presidential election "has suggested they are interested in giving the DPRK (North Korea) a better deal than the one we put on the table.
"So I would say, from the DPRK's point of view, it's time to settle now."
A six-nation denuclearisation deal, involving the United States, China, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia, offers the North energy aid and major diplomatic and security benefits in return for full denuclearisation.
But the deal has stalled over the declaration, which was due to be handed over by the end of last year.
The North says it submitted the document last November. But the United States says it has not fully accounted for a suspected secret uranium enrichment weapons programme or for alleged nuclear proliferation to Syria.
Hill said the North had not submitted a declaration last year. "They showed us some research materials, research reference materials. It's very clear that it's not a complete and correct declaration."
Hill said his meeting last month with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan in Geneva had made some progress and there had been subsequent indirect contacts.
"I would say there was some progress but it doesn't really mean anything until we actually get a declaration."
Seoul's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said Hill has already confronted Pyongyang with alleged evidence of its nuclear links to Syria.
It said he handed over a list of North Korean officials and engineers said to be involved in the technology transfer during an earlier meeting with Kim, who has denied any knowledge of the list.
The South's foreign ministry declined comment on the Chosun report.
The North insists it has no covert uranium programme and says it never transferred atomic technology to Syria. It has threatened to slow down ongoing work to disable its plutonium-producing plants if the deadlock continues.
Hill will hold a dinner meeting late Tuesday with his counterpart Chun Yung-Woo. He is scheduled to meet Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-Rak and Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-Joon on Wednesday, and then head to Indonesia on Thursday.

US 'hopeful' on missile defence deal with Russia: Bush

KIEV  ( 2008-04-01 15:52:28 ) : 

US President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he was hopeful of an agreement with Russia on US missile defence plans in Europe but admitted the United States still had work to do to persuade Russia.
"We're dealing with a lot of history and a lot of suspicion I'm hopeful we'll have some breakthroughs we'll see," Bush said at a press conference with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko during a visit to Kiev.
Bush was in Kiev at the start of a week-long European tour that will end with a meeting in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi with President Vladimir Putin.
"Obviously we've got work to do to persuade the president and the people around him that the missile defence system is not aimed at Russia," he said, insisting that the missile system was not "an anti-Russian device."
The United States has outlined plans to place interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic to counter potential threats from "rogue" states such as Iran or North Korea.
Russia has objected to the plans, saying there is no immediate threat and that the system is aimed at Russia. Talks on missile defence between the United States and Russia are ongoing but have so far not yielded any agreement.

France opposes Nato membership for Ukraine, Georgia

PARIS  ( 2008-04-01 15:58:26 ) : 

France opposes allowing Ukraine and Georgia into Nato, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Tuesday on the eve of an alliance summit in Bucharest that is to consider their membership.
"We are opposed to the entry of Georgia and Ukraine because we think that it is not a good answer to the balance of power within Europe and between Europe and Russia," said Fillon in an interview to France Inter.
His remarks coincided with a visit to Kiev by US President George W. Bush, who said on Tuesday that Washington "strongly supports" Ukraine's accession and that Georgia also should be allowed to take a step toward Nato membership.
"France has a different view from the United States on this issue," said Fillon.
"We want to have a dialogue with Russia on this subject and that is what the president will say in Bucharest" during the Nato summit opening on Wednesday, he added.
Russia has warned that allowing Ukraine to move toward Nato membership would have a negative impact on European security and create a serious crisis in relations between Moscow and Kiev.
Albania, Croatia and Macedonia hope to receive invitations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) at the summit. Georgia and Ukraine have applied for a Membership Action Plan (MAP), which prepares nations for entry.