U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2008)

U.S. Department of State

Remarks to Media Upon Arrival in Japan

Christopher R. Hill, Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Narita Airport
Tokyo, Japan
June 19, 2008

QUESTION: Secretary Rice said earlier that North Korea will give a declaration of its nuclear programs soon to China. When do you think it will happen?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, as the Secretary said, I think it will happen soon. And the reason I'm here is to meet with our ROK and Japanese counterparts and to get ready for the Six Parties. I think there have been in the past couple of months a lot of bilateral discussions of all kinds, but I think now is the month where we're really going to switch the focus back to the Six Parties. So I think we are going to be getting ready here for the next Six-Party meeting, which as Secretary Rice said will be soon.

QUESTION: Does that mean by the end of this month?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, "soon" means "soon." I don't think I need to interpret the Secretary's words. As I said, we've had a lot of bilateral discussions in recent weeks, recent months, but I think now is the time we're going to really focus on the Six Parties. And in particular, after meeting with Saiki-san and Kim Sook, I will go to China and talk to the Chinese -- because I think right now this is going to be a very important time for China, because they will be looking forward to receiving the declaration soon and for getting the six parties together and making sure we can all work together on concluding this phase.

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QUESTION: I think that there is a certain level of development. But do you think it's a long, long road to get to this point?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: It's been a very long road, and I've worn out a lot of shoes walking on this road. But as I said, we believe the Six-Party process is the right process to deal with this problem, and we think it's been very important to have China in the chair. It's been very important to have the U.S. and Japan working closely together. And I'm very pleased to have this trilateral process once again starting up with the ROK and Japan and the U.S., and that's partly why I'm here today in Tokyo. So it's been a very long road, a very difficult road, and even a few bumps in the road, I would say. But I think it's been the right process for dealing with this problem, and let's see if we can finish the job and get to our destination.

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