Top N. Korean, U.S. diplomats to attend ARF in July

By Lee Chi-dong
BANGKOK, May 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun and his
American counterpart, Hillary Clinton, will attend the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)
to be held in Thailand in July, a Thai official said Tuesday.

"North Korea recently confirmed that its foreign minister will attend the ARF
slated for July 17-23. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also plans to attend
it," Arthayudh Srisamoot, deputy director-general of the Thai foreign ministry's
ASEAN bureau, told a group of South Korean reporters on a trip here.
Thailand is the rotating chair country of this year's meeting of ASEAN, which
also include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
He added that Thai Foreign Minister Karsit Piromya will visit Pyongyang as early
as next month to discuss details on the North's participation in the upcoming
forum.
"North Korea asked him to visit there, and he is scheduling a trip," the official
said.
It is unclear whether Pak and Clinton will have a bilateral meeting on the
sidelines of the ARF. If held, it would be their first meeting and could provide
the momentum for efforts to break the stalemate in the six-way talks on the
North's nuclear program. North Korea said it has no intention to talk with the
U.S., claiming the Obama administration's policy on Pyongyang is no different
from the hostile stance of the Bush government.
The ARF, one of just a handful of international meetings in which the reclusive
North takes part, has in the past provided a chance for the two sides to have
high-level meetings outside the nuclear disarmament talks.
In the previous session in Singapore last year, Pak had a six-way meeting with
his counterparts from the other members of the talks -- South Korea, the U.S.,
China, Russia, and Japan.
In 2004, then North Korean Foreign Minister Paik Nam-sun had a 20-minute
bilateral meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell during the ARF held in
Jakarta.
The Thai official, meanwhile, dismissed worries that the ARF session may be
postponed due to the unstable political situation in Thailand.
ASEAN's annual summit with South Korea, China, and Japan, scheduled for April in
Pattaya, was canceled as anti-government protesters raided the venue.
"Until now, there is no change in the schedule for the ARF. We are making
preparations to hold the meeting in Bangkok as scheduled," he said. "But the
venue may be changed, depending on the decision by the prime minister's office."
He said his government will take lessons from the Pattaya incident and make
preventive efforts against such demonstrations.
South Korea and ASEAN will hold a separate commemorative summit marking their
20th year of relations on Jeju Island June 1-2. The summit is expected to help
bolster their ties, he added.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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