Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill completed a surprise two-day trip to Pyongyang early today, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to travel there since the crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions began nearly five years ago.Hill visited the North Korean capital at the sudden request of the country's government, and -- in a shift in policy -- the United States did not demand any concessions as a condition for the trip. Hill had long lobbied to travel to Pyongyang, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top officials had insisted that North Korea had to earn such a high-profile gesture by first shutting down its nuclear reactor.
But the aging reactor at Yongbyon is still operational, and this week the United States also arranged for North Korea to receive millions of dollars that the U.S. Treasury Department had previously deemed the fruits of illicit activities.
The Bush administration -- which once all but barred bilateral contacts between North Korean and U.S. diplomats -- has sought to portray such shifts in policy as part of a natural evolution. But former administration officials who had once fought internal battles over North Korea policy said yesterday that the administration appears to be weakening its negotiating position by making so many concessions so quickly.
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