Human rights, denuclearization are the next step for North Korea negotiations

“What cannot be undone [...] is the knowledge that North Korea has gained in their nuclear development program since 2002”, said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) at a full committee hearing on the North Korean Six-Party Talks and implementation activities. “That knowledge will always exist, and with it, the concern that a weapons program could be resumed, or the knowledge proliferated.”

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs said that cooperation with the People’s Republic of China has been very important for the talks, and has helped the nation emerge as a responsible stakeholder in the region. He went on to say that during the first two phases of negotiations, North Korea has shut down and began dismantling the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in exchange for 420,000 tons of heavy fuel oil and other energy supplies.

Hill also said that the US will continue to push the North Korean government for information on abductions of Japanese citizens, while also negotiating continued human rights reforms in response to reports of abuse.

William Tobey, deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation in the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration said that the third phase of negotiations will focus on implementation of comprehensive verification and denuclearization, and that the costs of these activities would be substantially higher than the previous steps. However, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) expressed concern over the costs of the next phase, expressing a desire to discuss sharing the expenses with other 6 members of the talks.