“No unilateral changes” to the draft joint statement drawn up by the Chinese hosts of the latest Six-Party Talks would be requested by the US, US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Christopher Hill, told a gathering of reporters in the State Department’s Foreign Press Centers in New York and Washington DC today.

Asst Secretary Hill had flown back from the talks at the weekend, telling reporters as he left Beijing airport that “we are really into the nuts and bolts now of implementing denuclearization, and … I really felt it was necessary to go back and walk people through this.” Asked at this afternoon’s press conference if getting agreement to the draft from Secretary Rice and President Bush had been “an easy sell”, Hill replied, “I like to think there was a positive response.”

While not revealing the exact details of what will be in the draft statement because the five other nations - China, South Korea, Japan, Russia, and North Korea - are also examining the draft, Hill did say that “some near-term actions are described in the statement and things will happen in the next couple of weeks”.

Praising the Six-Party Talks as “a cohesive and diplomatic process … with an excellent Chair [China]”, Hill said they had strengthened regional relationships and given the DPRK “a taste of what it’s like to be a part of a community.” He also looked forward to the talks achieving the ultimate aim of “working out one of the toughest problems in the world and solving it.”

In reply to a question from South Korea’s OHMY internet news service about whether the ceasefire that currently exists between North and South will ever be regularized as a peace treaty, Hill said that if North Korea “is prepared to denuclearize and do away with weapons, then the US is prepared to work towards a peace settlement.” Denuclearization is the US bottom line throughout the Six-Party Talks. “If we don’t get that last step, we don’t have a process,” Hill said.

The Washington end of the video conference was attended by about 30 members of the foreign press.