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U.S. hardliners verifying N. Korea's nuclear disarmament: sources
SEOUL, July 20 (Yonhap) -- A team of "hardline" U.S. officials has taken charge of their country's efforts to verify the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear programs, raising the possibility that the process may be delayed, sources said Sunday.
Diplomatic sources in Seoul said Patricia McNerney, chief of the U.S. State Department's international security and non-proliferation team, represented Washington at a working group for verifying the North's denuclearization at the latest six-way talks, held in Beijing earlier in this month.
They said McNerney's participation in the talks for the first time can be seen as a sign that the United States is pushing for tough verification measures. Previously, Christopher Hill, the top U.S. envoy at the six-way talks, or Sung Kim, director of Korea Affairs at the State Department, chaired talks on verification of North Korea's denuclearization.
The team has generally been skeptical that North Korea will dismantle its nuclear program, experts in Seoul claimed.
In the six-way talks that were concluded on July 12, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China agreed on the broad framework to conduct verification, but made no headway on details.
The U.S. demanded that inspectors be given the right to visit all suspected nuclear facilities without prior notice, while the North Korean side claimed it was not authorized to make deals on how verification should take place.
According to the press communique released after the talks, North Korea pledged to complete the disabling of its Yongbyon nuclear facility by October, with the other participants promising energy aid to the North.
In addition, the United States said it would remove North Korea from its list of countries that have engaged in or assisted terrorist activities on Aug. 11 if the nuclear verification process starts by that date.
Insiders, meanwhile, said that because there is not a lot of time before the August deadline and no formal negotiations on the issue are scheduled for the near future, there may be a need to adjust the entire schedule for verification and aid.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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