U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2006)

U.S. Department of State

Comments to Reporters Upon Arrival at Narita Airport

Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Narita Airport
Tokyo, Japan
November 30, 2006

QUESTION: What will you focus on in the meeting with Mr. Sasae?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE HILL: Well, I just want to brief Mr. Sasae on the second day of meetings that we had in Beijing with the DPRK. As you know, Mr. Sasae was in Beijing, and we consulted before and then after the first day of meetings with the DPRK. Mr. Sasae had to return to Tokyo, so on my way back I wanted to stop and tell him what happened on the second day.

QUESTION: When will the Six-Party Talks be resumed?

A/S HILL: Well, we're still hopeful that they can be in December, but as you know we're very much focused on what the purpose of the Six-Party Talks is going to be. The purpose is not to talk; the purpose is to achieve denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. So we have some ideas for how we can move very rapidly on that in the first session. These are ideas that we worked out with the Japanese delegation, the South Korean delegation, and of course we worked as well with the Russians and Chinese. This was all done in Hanoi, and then I went up to Beijing and had the opportunity to speak with the North Korean delegation. So we've shared these ideas with the North Koreans. They'll be taking them back now to Pyongyang, and we hope to hear from them very soon.

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Released on November 30, 2006