Bosworth has no immediate plans to meet N. Korean officials: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. pointman on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, has no plans to meet with North Korean officials during his three-nation Asian trip this week, the State Department said Monday.

"Not as far as I know," deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid said in a daily news
briefing. "That's what I know today."
Bosworth, special representative for North Korea, Monday embarked on a nine-day
trip to Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul to discuss resumption of the six-party talks,
stalled over North Korea's refusal to accept a protocol for verification of its
nuclear facilities.
He flies to Beijing and Tokyo before wrapping up his trip in Seoul, where he will
stay for four days from Saturday.
Last week, he did not rule out a meeting with North Korean officials while in
Asia, saying it depends on the North Koreans.
Bosworth's trip also comes as North Korea threatens to launch a communications
satellite into orbit, which South Korea and the U.S. see as a cover to launch a
long-range missile capable of reaching the continental U.S.
Duguid urged the North to refrain from launching the rocket.
"Any such launch would be a violation of existing U.N. Security Council
resolutions and would increase tensions unnecessarily," the spokesman said. "We
ask that the North Koreans consider that and not increase tensions in the Korean
Peninsula at this time."
He would not say if the U.S. would join the U.N. Security Council in punishing
the North for any such a missile launch.
"The U.N. Security Council will decide what happens when a resolution is
violated," he said. "We'll see what happens should there be a launch."
Bosworth last week met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House to
discuss his upcoming trip to Asia "for consultation with our allies and partners
in the six-party talks to discuss the problem of North Korea's nuclear and
missile programs."
Sung Kim, special envoy for six-party talks, will accompany Bosworth to the Asian
tour, during which they will also meet with Russian officials who are expected to
travel to the region.
Explaining his trip to Pyongyang as a private citizen in early February, Bosworth
said Friday that North Korea was "quite inclined toward continued dialogue with
the United States and a continued commitment with the people of the region in the
six-party talks."
While receiving Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei in Pyongyang late last
month, the North Koreans reportedly expressed willingness to attend a fresh round
of the six-party talks.