S. Korean, U.S. nuke envoys to attend U.N. disarmament forum

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korean and U.S. nuclear envoys will discuss ways
of advancing the stalled six-way talks on the North Korean nuclear program at a
meeting to be held next week on the sidelines of a U.N. disarmament seminar,
officials said.
Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy for the six-way talks, is scheduled to attend
the three-day forum starting Monday on the South Korean resort island of Jeju,
they added.
"Ambassador Sung Kim will have a separate meeting with Hwang Joon-kook, director
general of the North Korean nuclear affairs bureau at the (South Korean) Foreign
Ministry on Nov. 25," ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said.
The two are among some 60 international experts that will join the annual forum,
the seventh this year, aimed at discussing the North Korean and Iranian nuclear
programs as well as the future of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
The other participants include Paula DeSutter, assistant secretary for
verification, compliance and implementation at the U.S. State Department, Ian
Biggs, head of secretariat at the International Commission on Nuclear
Non-proliferation and Disarmament, Toshio Sano, director general of the
disarmament department at Japan's Foreign Ministry, and Ye Ruan, vice president of
China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.
The forum is co-organized by the South Korean ministry and the U.N. Regional
Center on Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific.
South Korean officials expect Sung Kim to provide an update on Washington's
discussions with Pyongyang on measures to verify the secretive communist nation's
June declaration of its nuclear stockpile.
Kim had talks with Ri Gun, the North's deputy chief nuclear negotiator, in New
York earlier this month. The six-way nuclear negotiations also involving China,
Russia, and Japan are stuck in a stalemate due to disputes over details on the
verification plan.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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