C. Hill Upon Departure From Hotel Okura

Comments to Reporters Upon Departure From Hotel Okura

Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Hotel Okura
Tokyo, Japan
January 21, 2007

QUESTION: Well, which comes first – lifting sanctions or starting the Six-Party Talks?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: First of all, the sanctions issue has to do with the UN, which has nothing to do with me. It has to do with some bilateral sanctions, which also has nothing to do with me. And it has to do with BDA & ndash; this Banco Delta Asia – which is also not directly related to what I'm doing.

So, what I'm going to try to do – First of all, I've had very good discussions here in Tokyo, talking to Mr. Sasae and having, once again, very good consultation with the Japanese team. And so I'm going to be going to Beijing right now, and I'll talk to my Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, and give him my thoughts on the fact that I think it's time to try to schedule a Six-Party meeting. And I hope the Chinese can do it as soon as possible. Obviously, they have their own considerations. They need to work with the other participants. So I hope we can get going with this very soon, and we'll see where we are.

QUESTION: Do you have a specific date in mind?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, the sooner the better. And obviously, we’ d like to do it very, very soon, but of course it’ll depend on the Chinese and some other partners. So we'll see how we do. But, as soon as possible.

Okay? You look awfully cold here. Sorry about that.

QUESTION: There were some reports that – well, I know with the sanctions story again, but some reports that the amount that you and the DPRK agreed upon – there was some agreement?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Oh, I didn't talk about money. I did not talk about money. You're referring to Macau and the BDA? I didn't discuss there. We did have a – You know in December our Treasury people came out to Beijing and had a good discussion. Our hope would be to renew that discussion, perhaps as early as next week. But it depends on the Treasury people and their counterparts in DPRK to try to schedule.

But it went very well in December and, hopefully, they’ll have another good session January. You know, we've said many times that we would like to solve this problem, but of course, it depends on all parties bringing goodwill to the table.

Okay? See you all later.

Released on January 21, 2007

ENDS

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