S. Korean nuclear envoy may join U.S.-N. Korea talks this week: source

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Yonhap) -- Senior South and North Korean diplomats may hold talks
in New York this week on ways of verifying Pyongyang's recent nuclear claims, a
foreign ministry source said Wednesday.

Hwang Joon-kook, head of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North Korean nuclear
issue bureau, left for New York earlier in the day in a hurriedly-arranged trip,
the source told Yonhap News Agency.
Ri Gun, director general of the American affairs bureau of the North's Foreign
Ministry, is in New York to attend an academic seminar organized by the National
Committee on American Foreign Policy, a non-governmental organization. Ri plans
to meet with U.S. Special Envoy for the six-party talks aimed at ending the North
Korean nuclear program on Thursday (local time) to discuss the verification
issue, according to the State Department.
A South Korean government official confirmed Hwang's trip to New York, saying he
headed there at an unexpected request from the U.S. government.
"The U.S. asked for consultations with us before and after the planned talks with
North Korea," the official said on the condition of anonymity.
He was cautious about the possibility of a three-way meeting between the U.S. and
the two Koreas in New York.
"It is uncertain whether North Korea will allow South Korea to join the meeting,"
he said, alluding to strained inter-Korean ties under the conservative Lee
Myung-bak government in the South.
But it would be helpful for South and North Korean officials to have a
face-to-face meeting to discuss the pending issues of energy aid and the
resumption of the six-way talks, he added without providing more information.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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