ID :
153828
Sat, 12/18/2010 - 08:53
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/153828
The shortlink copeid
Richardson says he`s making progress in N. Korea: CNN+
TOKYO, Dec. 17 Kyodo -
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Friday he had made some progress after
wrapping up his first serious meeting with a North Korean government official,
CNN reported from Pyongyang.
Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador, met earlier Friday with Ri Yong Ho, a
recently appointed vice foreign minister in charge of U.S. affairs, a day after
arriving in Pyongyang on a five-day visit that he says he hopes will ease
heightened tension in the region.
The diplomatic troubleshooter, traveling in a private capacity, was accompanied
by a CNN crew including anchor Wolf Blitzer, who also reported by phone that
there will be an official welcoming banquet held in Richardson's honor Friday
night.
On Saturday, Richardson is scheduled to meet with North Korea's senior nuclear
negotiator Kim Kye Gwan, the country's first vice foreign minister, who invited
him to the country this time.
Richardson has made clear he is seeking access to North Korea's main nuclear
complex at Yongbyon where it is now running a uranium enrichment program, a
move that would give it a second way of developing nuclear weapons in addition
to its known plutonium-based program.
Richardson was quoted by CNN as saying he hopes ''to bring down the temperature
in the Korean Peninsula'' during his trip.
He said he will try to get ''North Koreans to curtail their aggressive
behavior, to see if there is some basis for negotiations, to get them to stop
the uranium enrichment.''
Richardson, who has been involved in issues related to North Korea for more
than a decade, said his meetings come at a time when tensions on the Korean
Peninsula are ''the highest I've ever seen.''
''And you worry about some kind of action hastening a potential war. And we
have to avoid that at all costs,'' he said.
He has previously visited North Korea six times.
His latest visit comes in the wake of North Korea's deadly shelling of a South
Korean island on Nov. 23 that left four people dead. South Korea is planning to
hold live fire drills soon in the same area of the Yellow Sea.
China has stepped up calls for holding an emergency meeting of six regional
powers, including Russia, to ease the heightened tension on the peninsula, but
the United States, South Korea and Japan have not warmed to the proposal.
==Kyodo
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Friday he had made some progress after
wrapping up his first serious meeting with a North Korean government official,
CNN reported from Pyongyang.
Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador, met earlier Friday with Ri Yong Ho, a
recently appointed vice foreign minister in charge of U.S. affairs, a day after
arriving in Pyongyang on a five-day visit that he says he hopes will ease
heightened tension in the region.
The diplomatic troubleshooter, traveling in a private capacity, was accompanied
by a CNN crew including anchor Wolf Blitzer, who also reported by phone that
there will be an official welcoming banquet held in Richardson's honor Friday
night.
On Saturday, Richardson is scheduled to meet with North Korea's senior nuclear
negotiator Kim Kye Gwan, the country's first vice foreign minister, who invited
him to the country this time.
Richardson has made clear he is seeking access to North Korea's main nuclear
complex at Yongbyon where it is now running a uranium enrichment program, a
move that would give it a second way of developing nuclear weapons in addition
to its known plutonium-based program.
Richardson was quoted by CNN as saying he hopes ''to bring down the temperature
in the Korean Peninsula'' during his trip.
He said he will try to get ''North Koreans to curtail their aggressive
behavior, to see if there is some basis for negotiations, to get them to stop
the uranium enrichment.''
Richardson, who has been involved in issues related to North Korea for more
than a decade, said his meetings come at a time when tensions on the Korean
Peninsula are ''the highest I've ever seen.''
''And you worry about some kind of action hastening a potential war. And we
have to avoid that at all costs,'' he said.
He has previously visited North Korea six times.
His latest visit comes in the wake of North Korea's deadly shelling of a South
Korean island on Nov. 23 that left four people dead. South Korea is planning to
hold live fire drills soon in the same area of the Yellow Sea.
China has stepped up calls for holding an emergency meeting of six regional
powers, including Russia, to ease the heightened tension on the peninsula, but
the United States, South Korea and Japan have not warmed to the proposal.
==Kyodo
