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WASHINGTON : North Korea has nearly completed disabling its nuclear facilities but has not made a complete declaration of its atomic arsenal, a top US negotiator said Wednesday.
"Most of the agreed disablement tasks at the three core facilities have been completed," said Christopher Hill, the envoy to the six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons drive, told a Congressional hearing.
US experts are on the ground overseeing the disablement of the facilities at the key Yongbyon nuclear complex, where plutonium was produced and believed to have been used to make a nuclear bomb that Pyongyang exploded in October 2006.
Hill said North Korea had still not submitted a "complete and correct" declaration of its nuclear programmes after failing to meet a December 31 deadline despite prodding by the United States and others.
"We intend to ensure that Pyongyang lives up to the word by submitting to the Chinese chair as soon as possible a declaration that is in fact complete and correct," he told senators at the hearing on the status of the six-party talks chaired by China.
The other parties are the United States, Russia, the two Koreas and Japan.
- AFP /ls
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