By Arshad Mohammed
TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Riceon Wednesday hinted at progress toward ending North Korea'snuclear ambitions and left a senior aide in Beijing to discussthe matter with Chinese officials.
North Korea committed to abandon all nuclear weapons andprogrammes in exchange for economic and diplomatic benefitsunder a 2005 multilateral deal.
But the accord between the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russiaand the United States has become bogged down by Pyongyang'sfailure to produce a declaration of its nuclear programmes bythe end of last year.
Speaking in Tokyo, her last stop on a four-day tour ofNortheast Asia largely focused on North Korea, Rice said shegood conversations on North Korea with Japanese and Chineseofficials. Several meetings ran longer than scheduled.
"We've had constructive discussions yesterday ... we havehad constructive discussions here today and those will add toour ability to perhaps build some momentum toward thecompletion of the second phase," Rice told reporters after shemet Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura,
Earlier Rice told reporters that her talks with ChinesePresident Hu Jintao were "constructive and I would like to havecontinued them myself" but had to fly to Japan, leaving ChrisHill, the top U.S. negotiator with North Korea, to follow up.
Hill scrapped plans to accompany Rice to Tokyo and willspend one extra day in Beijing. He leaves on Thursday morningand is expected to make scheduled visits to Bangkok, Hanoi andHo Chi Minh City. The State Department said he had no plans tomeet North Korean officials in Beijing or to visit Pyongyang.
Rice was vague about how she hoped to revive the effort todenuclearise North Korea, which has shut down and begun todisable its atomic reactor at Yongbyon but balked at providinga declaration of all its nuclear programmes.
Under the second phase of the denuclearisation agreement,North Korea was to disable key facilities in Yongbyon andproduce the declaration in exchange for 1 million tonnes ofheavy fuel oil and the termination of certain U.S. sanctions.
Under the third, and final phase, the United States expectsNorth Korea to dismantle the Yongbyon reactor, account for thefissile material it has accumulated and decide what to do withit.
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"While I am not at all disturbed by delays in the secondphase -- because it's hard -- I do think that the second phaseis going to have to end in a way that inspires confidence thatthe third phase is going to make progress given thedifficulties," Rice said.
"That's the sort of thing that we are really talkingthrough with the Chinese, how ... you do that."
According to U.S. officials and analysts, the declaration'ssticking point has been Pyongyang's reluctance to discuss anytransfers of nuclear technology to other nations, notablySyria, or its suspected pursuit of uranium enrichment.
North Korea has produced plutonium, which can be used tomake atomic bombs, at Yongbyon. Uranium enrichment would giveit a second pathway to fissile material for nuclear weapons.
The United States has questions about any possible NorthKorean role in a suspected Syrian covert nuclear site bombed byIsrael in September. Syria has denied having a nuclearprogramme but the case remains murky.
(Editing by Bill Tarrant)
