Rice hopes for 'rapid progress' in North Korean denuclearisation

(29 Jun 2007) 1. Various close and wide shots of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Korean foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Song Min-Soon 2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State: "Let me welcome you. Let me welcome my colleague, Minister Song, who is a good friend and ally. We'll have a chance to, of course, review the excellent state of US-ROK relations. We will obviously have a chance to talk about the six-party talks, where we hope for, now, rapid progress, given the beginning - we believe - of the North Koreans' efforts to meet their initial action obligations. We also have a number of other bilateral issues that we can talk about, but welcome. It's great to have you here." 3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Song Min-Soon, South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister: "Well, thank you very much, Secretary Rice. Our bilateral relations are in quite good shape. Now we are in a final stage of completing this FTA (Free Trade) agreements. And Seoul and Washington have good agreements in moving ahead in the six-party talks. We agree that North Korea has ample reason and merit to give up its nuclear programme and the other parties in the six-party talks also agree that North Korea should make a strategic decision to give up its nuclear programme. We will move ahead now this bigger issue is behind us. We will move ahead in shutting down the North Korean nuclear programme and disabling the facilities and make (create) a new regional security and peace mechanism. Secretary Rice and I have a good coordination to have a very constructive and detailed idea. We will work further. Thank you." 4. Walk out shot of South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Song Min-Soon STORYLINE US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday she hoped for a swift shutdown of North Korea's nuclear weapons programs now that U.N. inspectors are in the country. "We hope for, now, rapid progress given the beginning, we believe, of the North Korean efforts to meet their initial action obligations," Rice said before meeting South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon at the State Department. Song was in Washington as a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was visiting North Korea. He said his country as well saw hope for quick movement now that a financial dispute that had stalled efforts was resolved. The team, led by IAEA deputy director Olli Heinonen, was invited by North Korea to discuss details of closing the reactor, a step it had pledged to take in a February accord with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. Heinonen, who declined on Thursday to provide details of his discussions with North Korean officials so far, stressed that the trip was not a formal inspection. Tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme peaked in October, when the communist country conducted its first nuclear test explosion. The 5-megawatt Yongbyon reactor is believed capable of churning out enough plutonium for one atomic bomb per year. Though North Korea pledged to close Yongbyon in exchange for economic aid and political concessions, it ignored an April deadline to do so because of a banking dispute with Washington. That was finally settled this week after months of delay, and North Korea announced on Monday that it would move forward with the disarmament deal. Song expressed optimism that the dispute would be settled. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...