Below is the text of the 10 January 2008 press conference at Incheon Airport with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill (h/t P). Hill skims over issue on North Korea’s incomplete nuclear declaration. He also met with and briefed president-elect Lee Myung-bak:

HILL: [. . .] While I was here in Seoul I had, I thought, very good discussions, especially on the Six Party process but also more broadly on the U.S.-ROK relations in light of the transition that is under way here in Seoul. I had some very good discussions with the Foreign Ministry, and also I had the honor of having a courtesy call on President Roh Moo-hyun. And then this morning I met with President-elect Lee Myung-bak. And while meeting with President-elect Lee Myung-bak, I informed him of the fact that President Bush looks forward to welcoming him at an early date to Washington, and we will be working very hard to come up with such a date. So, of course, with respect to the Six-Party process, we had some discussion about the fact that we are interested in getting through this second phase.

Obviously, we’ve had a bit of a bump in the road over the declaration, but I think everyone agrees that we need a declaration that’s complete and correct, and that that’s more important in fact than a timely declaration, and that we will continue to work to try to get a declaration as soon as possible so that we can move on to the next phase. And I look forward to discussing all those issues tonight with Wu Dawei. So those are sort of opening comments. And maybe I could go to some questions, and then I think I’ve got to scoot on out of here.

QUESTION: Could you elaborate some of the following concerns that you and Lee Myung-bak shared on just the current status of the Six-Party process?

HILL: Well, I think this was a courtesy call on the President-elect. So I took the occasion to brief him a little on where we stand with the process. And I told him what we’ve been trying to achieve in this phase two, namely two things. One, of course, the disabling of the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, which is a process that’s been going pretty well, and the second of course is achieving a declaration that is complete and correct and enables us to take our own set of actions and to then move to phase three. So I went through a briefing that I think you would find very familiar in terms of discussing where we stand on the Six-Party process — emphasizing that in order to make what we’ve done successful, we need to finish the job. We need to continue in this third phase and make sure that we can achieve the complete abandonment of all the nuclear materials that the DPRK has already produced so that we can complete the job of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. So I think we had a very good discussion about the need to work together to achieve this end.

QUESTION: Do you hope the declaration will be finished by the time that we (inaudible) the new government?

HILL: Well, in fact, I said to him that I think it would be very desirable if we could complete the phase two even before his government comes in, so that by the time his government does come in, in the end of February, we will be focusing on that last phase. And I think at that point, it’s important for all participants in the Six-Party process to work very closely together as we have up until now to see if we can really finish this job. I think there is no reason why we cannot finish the job in ’08. I think we all know what needs to be done. So we will see how we do.

I wanted to emphasize, too, that throughout the Six-Party process we have had these bumps in the road, we have had these missed deadlines, but that, ultimately, we have been able to make progress. Certainly 2007 was a year of progress, and we would like to see if we can do that and achieve further progress in 2008. Not to get too discouraged about some of the problems we face, but certainly to understand that we have a number of challenges to overcome.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) with Lee Myung-bak’s administration, do you foresee any changes or impact that might influence the situation of the talks?

HILL: Well, I think the ROK has been a very strong participant in the Six-Party process. I have certainly valued the work of the ROK diplomats. I consider them very, very exceptional diplomats. So I’m sure that engagement of the ROK in the Six-Party process will continue as it has been. I’m not really in a position to be judging ROK policies overall. Obviously the new president will be working with his advisors and determining the scale, the scope, the pace of their own North-South approaches. But that is for them to determine. That is not for me to determine.

But certainly it is very clear that this new president will understand the importance of all these issues and will be working very, very closely, first of all, with his advisors, but then with his friends and allies to try to work through this. We have, I think, an interest in resolving this nuclear matter that is very much synonymous with the interests of the ROK. We look forward to continuing this very, very close and productive relationship.

QUESTION: In terms of Korea-U.S. relations, do you see any difference between the current administration of South Korea and the next government?

HILL: Well, you know a lot of the people in the next government who are now in the transition are people I know very well from my time when I was here in 2004. I met with them on many occasions in Washington. And so these are some very familiar faces. I am a very strong believer in the ROK-U.S. alliance, and I have every reason to believe it is going to continue and in very strong shape. I am not really in a position to compare and contrast the next government with the current government. I think I’ll leave that for the Korean people to do. But I know that the U.S., we stand ready to work very closely with this incoming government and to see if we can achieve our goals together.

QUESTION: Sir, what do believe is holding up North Korea from implementing through the second phase?

HILL: Well, I think the declaration has been a little difficult for them because it involves a degree of transparency that perhaps doesn’t come naturally to them. To be sure, I think they realize, as we realize, that the disabling of the facilities has gone very well. I think for them that actually disclosing all of their programs, all of their nuclear material, all of their facilities has been difficult for them to do. Even, in some cases — It is interesting, in our discussions with them, some facilities, for example, that we are aware of, that they are aware of, and that they are aware that we are aware, yet they didn’t want to disclose those. So I really think it has to do with transparency.

What I’ve tried to do with the DPRK is to emphasize the fact that as we go forward, as we are going to go forward here, we need to have an understanding of how we go forward. We can go forward with full transparency. We can’t have a situation where we pretend programs didn’t exist when we both know that they existed. We can’t have a process that goes forward on the basis of not being honest with each other. So it’s a tougher issue than maybe it should be. I mean tougher from a psychological point of view. I think that’s why we have to show a little patience with the situation and try to get through it. I can handle one more question.

QUESTION: What are the chances for next (inaudible)?

HILL: Well, I need to talk to the Chinese on that. I mean, obviously, we are always in favor of Six-Party meetings. If the Chinese want to call one, I’m sure we will be interested in attending one. Obviously, we would like any Six-Party meeting to be one that advances the process. And so the thing that we’re dealing with right now, of course, is the declaration. So we’d have to see how a Six-Party meeting can address the declaration issue that we are facing.

But, you know, as I’ve tried to emphasize to the North Koreans, if we get through this declaration, we will do what we’re supposed to do. We will continue. We have some bilateral considerations that we are prepared to move on. So I hope that the DPRK will understand the value of moving ahead, because things are lined up. If they want us to achieve the breakthrough in ’08, we can do it. We can definitely do it.

OK. Great to see you all, and for those of you coming to China, I’ll see you there.