US targets 2008 for full implementation of NKorean nuclear deal

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2007 (AFP) - The United States has set 2008 as the target for full implementation of an accord to end North Korea's nuclear weapons drive, including a final peace deal for the Korean peninsula, top US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said yesterday.

"It would be in 2008 we would really want to wrap this up," he told reporters in Washington on his return from six-party talks in Beijing.

"The sooner the better, I mean, from my humble perspective. But in 2008 we would hope to wrap this up. I hope it wouldn't take 12 months," Hill said.

With the next US presidential elections in November 2008, the administration of President George W. Bush is eager to complete the implementation of the complex nuclear deal before Bush vacates the White House.

Under the deal, North Korea has to disable its nuclear arsenal in return for aid and diplomatic and security guarantees, including diplomatic relations with Washington and a permanent accord to end the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea has already shut down its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor as promised under a February 13 accord reached by the six-parties -- the United States, China, Russia, the two Koreans and Japan.

In September, the six-parties hope to adopt a comprehensive program with possibly a 2007 deadline for North Korea to declare and disable its entire nuclear arsenal under phase two of the nuclear accord.

Hill said that "realistically speaking, if we can get phase two done by the end of the year, then we can address some of the other elements that are there," citing as an example the planned setting up of a Northeast Asian security forum and signing of a peace treaty to officially end the Korean War.

"And realistically speaking, if we can't get that (second phase) going by the end of '07, it's going to be tough to complete it by the end of '08, which would be our target time," Hill said.

The United States backed South Korea in the bloody war while North Korea had China's support. The two arch enemies are still technically at war as the Korean War ended only in an armistice.

Hill hinted of difficulties facing such planned time frames.

"I suspect we're going to have some eleventh-hour negotiations," he said of the process of putting together a so called "sequencing plan" with the disabling of North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

"So let's see if we can get something that makes sense by early September and then try to implement it," he said.