The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, New York

The United States said it expects agreement in the coming days on a plan to disable North Korea' nuclear facilities by the end of the year, but stressed that what counts is whether the North agrees to give up its nuclear weapons and the fissile material to make them. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the top U.S. nuclear negotiator with North Korea, said at a Tuesday news conference that President Bush agreed to a joint statement proposed by China at the end of six-party talks last weekend on plans for disabling the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and achieving a full description of the North's nuclear program. Hill, speaking at the Foreign Press Center, said he expects all other parties to the Korea talks - China, Japan, Russia, North Korea and South Korea - to sign on to the joint statement, which should be released in Beijing in the next few days. While refusing to give details, Hill said the proposed joint statement will set a timetable for geting through the process of obtaining a full nuclear declaration from the North and disabling its nuclear facilities by the end of the year. Six-party talks on North Korea have dragged on for four years but if ultimately successful would roll back a nuclear program that a year ago allowed North Korea to detonate a nuclear device and that experts say may have produced more than a dozen nuclear bombs.