SEOUL, South Korea -- The United States is looking to build on momentum created by North Korea shutting down its nuclear reactor and will start deliberations on removing the regime from a list of terrorism-sponsoring states, the main U.S. envoy on the issue said Monday.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill laid out a busy agenda for steps Washington hopes can be made in the reconciliation process as Pyongyang lays aside its nuclear weapons program.
Among them, he said, are negotiations on a permanent peace treaty to replace the 54-year-old cease-fire that halted the Korean War and talks on setting up a regional security forum in northeast Asia.
"If North Korea wants to denuclearize, all of this stuff is very doable," Hill said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Monday that the North had shut down its sole functioning nuclear reactor at Yongbyon as it said it had done Saturday, the first tangible progress from years of arms negotiations involving the U.S. and other regional powers.
"Our inspectors are there. They verified the shutting down of the reactor yesterday," IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said during a visit to Bangkok, Thailand. "The process has been going quite well and we have had good cooperation from North Korea. It's a good step in the right direction."
The next moves come this week as Hill travels to Beijing on Tuesday for consultations with the other countries involved in the nuclear negotiations: China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas.
Diplomats are to discuss a timetable for further progress, and Hill said he hoped North Korea's nuclear facilities would be disabled -- meaning rendered unable to be restarted -- by year's end.
Negotiators also will discuss scheduling a meeting as soon as next month among foreign ministers of all six nations, likely also in Beijing ahead of an Asia-Pacific summit in Australia in early September.
He said the ministers' aim would be to issue a statement outlining the vision for a northeast Asian forum "where it can deal with the problems of trying to make this a better neighborhood."
Hill has frequently spoken of his aspiration that the six-nation talks could lead to a more lasting security system in a region with a long history of conflict over territory and other disputes.
Meeting a key North Korean demand, the United States is willing to start the process of removing the reclusive communist regime from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, Hill said.
"We'll see when we can complete that, because we'll see how far the North Koreans are prepared to move on denuclearization," he said.
The designation rankles the North, which has called for it to be lifted along with other economic sanctions before it moves ahead on nuclear disarmament. The North Korean regime has not been directly tied to any terrorist action since it planted a bomb on a South Korean plane in 1987.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on that issue it would be important for the North to work with Japan on its abductions of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s. Japan opted out of the aid provision part of the February nuclear deal, citing a lack of progress by North Korea in resolving questions about those kidnapped.
Hill said talks on replacing the Korean War cease-fire with a peace accord could start next year, "with understanding that we can't complete that until we complete denuclearization."
The United States fought alongside South Korea under a U.N. mandate in the 1950-53 conflict that ended in an armistice, leaving the sides still technically at war.
On Monday, South Korea sent the second of two initial shipments of what eventually will be 50,000 tons of oil to reward North Korea for the reactor shutdown. The first arrived Saturday, prompting North Korea to begin the shutdown at Yongbyon.
The North has been promised a total of 1 million tons of oil if it disables all its nuclear programs, and Hill said Washington would look at other incentives such as humanitarian aid.
"We have never had a quarrel with the North Korean people," he said. "We have wanted to help the North Korean people and will continue to look for options, look for ways which we can do that."
The United Nations' humanitarian aid chief also expressed hope Monday that progress on the nuclear issue will make it easier to provide help to North Korea, where he said humanitarian groups still find access difficult despite crop failures and natural disasters in recent years that caused widespread food shortages.
But Undersecretary General John Holmes said in Geneva that U.N. food assistance was not contingent on North Korea agreeing to give up its nuclear program.
"We were happy to provide food aid," he said. "This was a humanitarian issue. It has nothing to do with politics."
Hill acknowledged process in talks with North Korea will be difficult and will require both Pyongyang and Washington to be flexible.
"Anyone who's been in a negotiation -- whether you're buying a car or buying a nuclear shutdown -- realizes it takes time," he said. "It's frustrating, you have ideas, the other guy has ideas. You have to compromise and get it done."
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Indonesian ferry sinks in heavy storm; dozens dead and missing Life requested for US suspect in Italy murder case