Update: See related reports from Reuters and the AP.

Original post: While in Sydney, Australia on 07 September, Christopher Hill (Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs) addressed the press (h/t P) concerning an invitation from North Korea for the three nuclear states in the Six Parties (U.S., China, and Russia) to visit North Korea next week to survey some nuclear sites. Each country will assemble a team of experts to visit the sites, which likely will include Yongbyon.

Questions eventually turned more specifically towards types of inspections and delisting. I suggest you read the excerpts below, but these are the highlights:

• The term “disablement” was used repeatedly. Note that President Bush used the terms “verifiably” in regard to ending nuclear “weapons programs” (plural) and “weapons.” This terminology seems to indicate that there is still a limit and that Pyongyang will not be rewarded for shutting down a reactor and submitting unverified declarations while attempting to retain nukes.
• A new deadline – probably no more sacred than the 14 April deadline of the 13 February agreement– has been set at 31 December 2007 for the “disablement phase,” however that will be defined. Hill was adamant that North Korea has promised to do this.
• Hill noted that many of the facilities to be inspected, “have been used for military purposes,” yet they must be inspected. In the past North Korea has balked at allowing inspections of military facilities, claiming they did not have to under IAEA protocols. This seems to indicate that the U.S. won’t accept that as a legitimate argument.
• Concerning the removal of North Korea from the list of terrorist sponsoring nations, the direct question was asked, “if they disable by the end of this year, are you ready to delist them from the state sponsors list?” Hill replied that the U.S.-DPRK, “have some very specific understandings about that,” but would not clarify. This points to the drug-deal some have suspected, yet Hill insists nothing will be given away. Time will tell.

It’s too soon to tell for certain, but this may indicate some regrowth of U.S. backbone in dealing with North Korea.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, this was an outgrowth of – It was their suggestion, and it was an outgrowth of the denuclearization working group that took place in Shenyang — during which there was a discussion of how to do you disable. And one of the questions is, how do you define disablement? And then how do you disable in a way that meets that definition, but also the time frame — because I think we’ve lost a lot of time in our process over the spring. And so we want disablement, the disablement phase, to be done by December 31st. So rather than talk about ideas on a piece of paper, the North Koreans suggested that some nuclear experts come and have a look and let’s figure out what we can get done according to our definition and get it done by December 31st.

QUESTION: Japan and Korea I think also have nuclear experts. What is the reason –

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, this has to do with nuclear weapons ultimately. At the end of the day, we’re talking about facilities that have been used for military purposes. And I think we have to realize that Yongbyon was a facility that was used to reprocess spent fuel into plutonium for military purposes, and for that reason we have the three nuclear weapons states. In the future, I don’t know what kind of experts would be involved. But, at this stage, having the three nuclear weapons states seemed appropriate. I want to stress that the results of this expert-level visit, the results will be forwarded, will be reported to the Six-Party meeting, which is under the chairmanship of the Chinese. So we will go from there.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) to define what disablement means?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, this is not a negotiating team. This is a technical team to look at what is feasible and what can be the scope. They need to report to the Six Parties. And then, if there are further negotiations, they would be done by the Six Parties.

QUESTION: Does this mean the North Koreans are ready to disable and declare all nuclear programs by the end of this year? Are they really going to do that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, they said they will.

QUESTION: By the end of this year?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Yes.

QUESTION: They said in public? In public, I don’t think they said –

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: They’ve said they will.

QUESTION: And if they disable by the end of this year, are you ready to delist them from the state sponsors list?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Oh, well, we have some very specific understandings about that, but I’m not ready to talk about that publicly. (emphasis added)

Read the entire transcript at the Department of State website.