ID :
31268
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 11:22
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/31268
The shortlink copeid
Bush to meet Lee on N. Korean nuclear issue: officials
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President George W. Bush will meet bilaterally with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Chinese and Japanese leaders in Lima on the margins of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum later this week to discuss North Korea's nuclear ambitions, officials here said Wednesday.
"He will have bilateral meetings with both the president of the Republic of Korea
as well as with the prime minister of Japan," a senior official said in a
background briefing on Bush's attendance at the annual APEC forum in the capital
of Peru.
"The president will express appreciation for the highly constructive roles both
nations continue to play in the six-party talks and will discuss the ways to move
that process forward," the official said.
While meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Bush will express "appreciation
for China's leadership on the North Korea denuclearization issue," the official
said. "And they will discuss the importance of an early six-party talks heads of
delegation meeting, to reach final agreement on North Korean verification."
Bush's meetings come amid differing positions of the U.S. and North Korea over
how to verify North Korea's nuclear facilities as presented by the reclusive
country in June as part of a nuclear deal signed by the six parties in the
multilateral talks.
North Korea last week said that it had never agreed on sample taking and access
to undeclared nuclear sites.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood, however, rebuffed by saying that North
Korea agreed to let international inspectors take samples from its nuclear
facilities as part of a verification protocol.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill visited the North Korean capital in
early October to settle on a verification regime, which Washington said included
"sampling" and "forensic tests" of all of the declared nuclear facilities to
substantiate the nuclear list presented by the North in June.
The agreement ended a months-long stalemate over how to verify the North's
nuclear programs as Washington subsequently lifted the North from its terrorism
blacklist and the North resumed disabling its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon,
north of its capital, Pyongyang.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President George W. Bush will meet bilaterally with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Chinese and Japanese leaders in Lima on the margins of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum later this week to discuss North Korea's nuclear ambitions, officials here said Wednesday.
"He will have bilateral meetings with both the president of the Republic of Korea
as well as with the prime minister of Japan," a senior official said in a
background briefing on Bush's attendance at the annual APEC forum in the capital
of Peru.
"The president will express appreciation for the highly constructive roles both
nations continue to play in the six-party talks and will discuss the ways to move
that process forward," the official said.
While meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Bush will express "appreciation
for China's leadership on the North Korea denuclearization issue," the official
said. "And they will discuss the importance of an early six-party talks heads of
delegation meeting, to reach final agreement on North Korean verification."
Bush's meetings come amid differing positions of the U.S. and North Korea over
how to verify North Korea's nuclear facilities as presented by the reclusive
country in June as part of a nuclear deal signed by the six parties in the
multilateral talks.
North Korea last week said that it had never agreed on sample taking and access
to undeclared nuclear sites.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood, however, rebuffed by saying that North
Korea agreed to let international inspectors take samples from its nuclear
facilities as part of a verification protocol.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill visited the North Korean capital in
early October to settle on a verification regime, which Washington said included
"sampling" and "forensic tests" of all of the declared nuclear facilities to
substantiate the nuclear list presented by the North in June.
The agreement ended a months-long stalemate over how to verify the North's
nuclear programs as Washington subsequently lifted the North from its terrorism
blacklist and the North resumed disabling its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon,
north of its capital, Pyongyang.
