Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative, on North Korea, at the Security Council Stakeout, June 9, 2009

Susan E. Rice
United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations 
U.S. Mission to the United Nations 

New York, NY

June 9, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ambassador: Good afternoon. You’ve already heard from Ambassador Takasu. We continue to engage in intense and productive negotiations. We’re making progress, but we’re not done yet. So that’s in a nut shell where we are. I’ll take a couple.

Reporter: How close are you, a matter of hours? Days?

Ambassador: I don’t think it’s wise or prudent to predict that.

Reporter: What’s the hold up?

Ambassador: We’re all working through a large set of very complex difficult issues, and this is a very technical endeavor. We’re consulting amongst each other and with our capitals and we’ll get it done as soon as we can get it done.

Reporter: Madame Ambassador, would you say that you’re close, very close? This is two weeks after, for people who have intense interest on this…

Ambassador: I think I’ve characterized it as best I could.

Reporter: (interrupts) You said progress, but…

Ambassador: We continue to make progress. I am hopeful that this will be concluded relatively soon, but I can’t give you a more specific prediction than that.

Thank you all.

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