N Korea to disable nukes by year-end

The chief US nuclear negotiator yesterday expressed hope North Korea will disable its nuclear programmes by the end of the year, a day before a fresh round of disarmament talks kick off in Beijing.
North Korea in July belatedly carried out the first part of a six-nation disarmament deal, shutting down its reactor at Yongbyon in return for 50,000 tons of fuel oil.
The next phase of the deal calls for the communist state to declare all its nuclear facilities and disable them in exchange for more badly needed fuel aid.
"If we can be successful by the end of this year in getting this disabling and full declaration, we can then move on to what I hope to be the final phase next year, which is the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," Christopher Hill told reporters in Tokyo after holding talks with his Japanese counterpart, Kenichiro Sasae.
Hill is en route to Beijing for the next round of six-nation talks that open on Thursday and involve the United States, Japan, China, Russia and the two Koreas.
Hill, the US assistant secretary of state for Asia, said the talks were at a "very important stage."
"It's not the last stage -- of course the last stage is the elimination of all of the programmes -- but I think this will really set the stage for that last stage," he said.