ID :
27860
Sat, 11/01/2008 - 06:50
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/27860
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U.S., N. Korean nuclear envoys set to meet in New York next week: State Dept.
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. special envoy for multilateral North Korean nuclear talks will meet with his North Korean counterpart in New York next week on the margins of a seminar, the State Department said Friday.
The meeting between Sung Kim, special envoy for the six-party talks, and Ri Gun,
director general of the American affairs bureau of the North's Foreign Ministry,
comes as the parties negotiate toward resumption of the talks, possibly next
month.
"Sung Kim is going to see them," spokesman Sean McCormack said in a daily news
briefing.
Ri will lead a North Korean delegation to New York at the invitation of the
National Committee on American Foreign Policy soon after the U.S. presidential
election Tuesday.
Ri, former deputy chief of the North Korean mission to the United Nations in New
York, doubles as deputy head of the North Korean delegation to the six-party
talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"This is one of those so-called track two efforts, where there's an NGO or
private organization, nongovernmental organization that's sponsoring a
conference," McCormack said. "I believe the level of their representation is at
the deputy to Kim Gye Gwan, who is their head of delegation to the six-party
talks. Ambassador Kim from our side is going to see him."
Kim accompanied Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear envoy, to Pyongyang in
early October when the North Koreans were reluctant to allow unfettered access to
their nuclear facilities.
Soon after the visit, Pyongyang agreed to allow international monitors to inspect
facilities for verification of the nuclear list the North presented in June. That
was a major breakthrough for the talks, stalled for months over the verification
issue.
Washington then announced the removal of North Korea from the U.S. terrorism
blacklist. That brought criticism that the Bush administration accepted an
incomplete verification measure, which allows access to undeclared nuclear sites
only on "mutual consent," to make the North Korean nuclear issue a major foreign
policy achievement in its waning months.
U.S. officials said they expected the six-party talks to resume in mid-November.
The talks were originally expected to be held in late October or early November,
but ran into scheduling problems.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. special envoy for multilateral North Korean nuclear talks will meet with his North Korean counterpart in New York next week on the margins of a seminar, the State Department said Friday.
The meeting between Sung Kim, special envoy for the six-party talks, and Ri Gun,
director general of the American affairs bureau of the North's Foreign Ministry,
comes as the parties negotiate toward resumption of the talks, possibly next
month.
"Sung Kim is going to see them," spokesman Sean McCormack said in a daily news
briefing.
Ri will lead a North Korean delegation to New York at the invitation of the
National Committee on American Foreign Policy soon after the U.S. presidential
election Tuesday.
Ri, former deputy chief of the North Korean mission to the United Nations in New
York, doubles as deputy head of the North Korean delegation to the six-party
talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"This is one of those so-called track two efforts, where there's an NGO or
private organization, nongovernmental organization that's sponsoring a
conference," McCormack said. "I believe the level of their representation is at
the deputy to Kim Gye Gwan, who is their head of delegation to the six-party
talks. Ambassador Kim from our side is going to see him."
Kim accompanied Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear envoy, to Pyongyang in
early October when the North Koreans were reluctant to allow unfettered access to
their nuclear facilities.
Soon after the visit, Pyongyang agreed to allow international monitors to inspect
facilities for verification of the nuclear list the North presented in June. That
was a major breakthrough for the talks, stalled for months over the verification
issue.
Washington then announced the removal of North Korea from the U.S. terrorism
blacklist. That brought criticism that the Bush administration accepted an
incomplete verification measure, which allows access to undeclared nuclear sites
only on "mutual consent," to make the North Korean nuclear issue a major foreign
policy achievement in its waning months.
U.S. officials said they expected the six-party talks to resume in mid-November.
The talks were originally expected to be held in late October or early November,
but ran into scheduling problems.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
