Ambassador Christopher Hill Holds a State Department News Briefing On East Asia at the Foreign Press Center

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Ambassador Christopher Hill Holds a State Department News Briefing On East Asia at the Foreign Press Center

AMBASSADOR CHRIS HILL HOLDS A STATE DEPARTMENT NEWS BRIEFING ON EAST ASIA AT THE FOREIGN PRESS CENTER

JULY 21, 2006

SPEAKER: AMBASSADOR CHRISTOPHER R. HILL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS

[*] HILL: Pleasure to see you all here. Some real familiar faces out there. Good to see you. Why don't I make a few -- a couple of opening comments, and then go right to your questions? Does that sound about right? That OK? Sure, OK.

(LAUGHTER)

Well, first of all, I think, notwithstanding the fact that there are a lot of things going on in the news today in various parts of the world, I think we have come to kind of an important juncture in the six-party process.

For the first time, this Korean nuclear issue has been referred to the U.N. Security Council. I think the U.N. Security Council spoke with one voice, and a very powerful voice: all countries coming together, including China, to condemn these missile launches.

The council resolution required that all member states exercise vigilance. And what will now happen is these member states need to exercise vigilance to deny DPRK the capability of funding these programs of weapons of mass destruction, but also to deny them the ability to traffic in the technology.

It's a very strong resolution; uses very strong words. And it's very strongly supported.

And I think it's a very importan...

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