New Mexico Gov. meets N. Korean diplomats amid N. Korea's conciliatory gestures

(ATTN: UPDATES with State Dept. spokesman's remarks, other details, background
throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson met Wednesday
with two North Korean diplomats from the North's mission to the United Nations,
but the State Department said the meeting has nothing to do with the Obama
administration.

Richardson met with Minister Kim Myong-gil and another diplomat in Santa Fe in
the afternoon, said Alarie Ray-Garcia, the spokeswoman for the governor, in an
e-mail to Yonhap News Agency.
"I can confirm the report," she said, without elaborating.
Reports said that Richardson met with Kim and another diplomat, Paek Jong-ho, at
his mansion in Santa Fe, describing the meeting as one on renewable and clean
energy solutions, which have nothing to do with the Barack Obama administration
seeking the denuclearization of North Korea.
The meeting, nonetheless, caught attention as it follows the landmark visit to
Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton early this month to win the release of
two American journalists detained for illegally entering the North on a reporting
tour.
Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il for three hours in Pyongyang and
Tuesday briefed Obama on his Pyongyang trip. The North Korean leader reportedly
proposed to improve bilateral ties.
Ian Kelly, State Department spokesman, confirmed that the department has issued a
permit for the North Korea diplomats' travel to Santa Fe, saying, "It was
approved, and I understand that they did go out to New Mexico."
North Korean diplomats in New York are required to get permission from the State
Department to travel outside a 25-mile radius around New York.
The spokesman said that the department knows nothing about the substance of
meeting, and dismissed allegations that Richardson might act for the Obama
administration in dealing with North Korea's nuclear ambitions and other
bilateral relations.
"For this specific instance, I'm not aware of any contact with this office,"
Kelly said. "We want them to return to the six-party context and sit down with us
and the other four partners in the six-party talks to continue talks towards the
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. I would discourage you from seeing this
as some kind of sign of that."
The bilateral ties of the Cold War foes, which fought in the 1950-53 Korean War,
have chilled as the international community imposed an arms embargo and financial
and other sanctions on the North for its nuclear and missile tests in recent
months.
In another conciliatory gesture, Kim Jong-il met with Hyun Jung-eun, chairwoman
of South Korea's Hyundai Group, a major investor in the North, Sunday and allowed
the resumption of cross-border tour projects and reunions of families separated
from the Korean War.
North Korea also said it is sending a delegation to Seoul Sunday for the funeral
of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, with whom Kim Jong-il had an
unprecedented inter-Korean summit in 2000 to produce rapprochement measures.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday said that the debriefing was useful,
and reiterated that North Korea must return to the six-party talks on ending its
nuclear programs. She dismissed Pyongyang's call on Washington to engage the
North bilaterally apart from the six-party forum.
"The briefing that my husband and those who traveled with him have provided to us
is extremely helpful because it gives us a window into what's going on in North
Korea," she said. "Our policy remains the same ... We continue to offer to the
North Koreans the opportunity to have a dialogue within the six-party-talk
framework with the United States that we think could offer many benefits to the
people of North Korea."
Analysts say the ailing North Korean leader may aim to use the visits by Clinton
and the South Korean business leader as a turning point for a breakthrough in the
stalled talks over the North's nuclear ambitions. Months of provocations by
Pyongyang are seen as an attempt to facilitate an unprecedented third generation
power transition to Kim's son Jong-un, 26.
Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said Monday,
"One might infer that North Korea is feeling some pressure, whether it's
political pressure, economic pressure or a combination of the two."
Crowley reiterated Washington's stance that it will continue sanctioning North
Korea until Pyongyang takes irreversible steps toward its denuclearization,
saying, "These marginal steps in and of themselves are not enough."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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