U.S. envoy sees steps to possible N. Korea deal

By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The next round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program could produce an agreement resembling a defunct 1994 pact, but it would be only preliminary and the final deal would go much farther, U.S. negotiator Chris Hill said on Monday.

In an interview with Reuters, Hill described North Korea's commitment to give up its nuclear weapons as "strong" and said the Washington would not allow other issues like a dispute over U.N. Development Program money to undercut a nuclear deal.

Hill leaves this weekend for discussions in Seoul and Tokyo before a new round of talks in Beijing involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia to try to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.

The six-party negotiations are expected to begin February 8.

A flurry of recent diplomatic activity, including talks in Berlin between Hill and his North Korean counterpart, has raised expectations of an agreement that begins to implement a September 2005 joint statement that committed Pyongyang in principle to denuclearize.

Although the joint statement calls for the North to completely and verifiably dismantle its nuclear programs, many U.S. officials and experts expect the step-by-step process to begin with Pyongyang freezing plutonium operations at its Yongbyon complex in return for aid.

Critics fear the process will stop at a freeze. That would enable North Korea to resume nuclear weapons production later, as it did after the 1994 "Agreed Framework" collapsed in 2002-2003 after President George W. Bush took office.

Hill declined to reveal details of what might emerge from the Beijing negotiations but said "we have the basis of a good six-party meeting."

'BEYOND AGREED FRAMEWORK'

"Whatever emerges in the next round, our job will not be finished until the full joint statement is finally realized and implemented. The joint statement goes well beyond the Agreed Framework," he said.

"So I'm not too worried whether something might look like the Agreed Framework because we're only looking at part of what we're aiming at. It's certainly our intention and it's everybody's intention to continue this process until we complete implementation of the joint statement."

Bush's administration opposed the Agreed Framework from the start, saying it rewarded Pyongyang for bad behavior.

Meanwhile, the North has expanded its nuclear capability and last October tested a weapon. That resulted in U.N. sanctions and Hill said Pyongyang knows another test would be a "severe problem" for the diplomatic process.

Under the Agreed Framework, North Korea was promised two light-water nuclear power reactors and interim fuel supplies in exchange for freezing its weapons program.

On the recent flap over UNDP funds, Hill said both the United States and North Korea have a "strong commitment" to the September 2005 joint statement "so I don't think we're going to allow other issues to get in the way of this mutual commitment to implement the joint statement."