(LEAD) U.S., N.K. officials meet in New York on N. Korean nuke: State Dept.

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- U.S. special envoy for six-party talks, Sung Kim,
met with a senior North Korean official in New York Saturday to discuss
resumption of the stalled nuclear talks, the State Department said.

"DPRK Ambassador Ri Gun has traveled to the U.S. on the invitation of U.S.
private organizations," spokesman Noel Clay said in a statement. "During his
visit, Ambassador Sung Kim took the opportunity to meet with him in New York on
Oct. 24 to convey our position on denuclearization and the six-party talks." DPRK
is North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Ri Gun, director general of the North American affairs bureau of North Korea's
Foreign Ministry, arrived in New York Friday to attend seminars amid rumors he
will also meet with U.S. officials to discuss holding bilateral talks in
Pyongyang for a breakthrough on the six-party talks.
In New York, Ri emerged from a one-hour meeting at the U.S. mission to the United
Nations and told reporters that "I met with Sung Kim and discussed issues of
mutual interest."
Ri stopped short of discussing the substance of the talks, saying "Let's wait and
see."
The North Korean official did not preclude the possibility of meeting Sung Kim
again. "We may meet again."
Kim Myong-gil, deputy head of the North Korean mission to the U.N. in New York,
meanwhile, said that "We have no plans to meet here again today. We will see you
in San Diego."
Ri has been invited to participate in the Northeast Asia Cooperative Dialogue
(NEACD) at the University of California, San Diego, and also in a seminar in New
York hosted by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and the Korea
Society.
The event in San Diego, set for Oct. 25-27 and organized by the Institute on
Global Conflict and Cooperation, is intended to bring together academics as well
as government officials from all members of the six-way talks ending the North
Korean nuclear program, including the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and
Japan.
Clay said that Sung Kim and Derek Mitchell, principal deputy assistant secretary
of defense, will participate in the NEACD in San Diego.
"NEACD is an annual track II event," Clay said. "Our level of participation this
year is the same as previous years."
Alexander Arvizu, then deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific
Affairs, attended last year's NEACD session in Beijing along with Jung Tae-yang,
vice director general of the American bureau of the North Korean Foreign
Ministry.
Ri and Kim are expected to meet again next week to discuss preparations for a
visit to Pyongyang by Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North
Korea policy, for a breakthrough on the stalled nuclear negotiations.
North Korea extended the invitation to Bosworth in August when former U.S.
President Bill Clinton visited the North Korean capital to win the release of two
American journalists.
North Korea has boycotted the six-party talks due to U.N. sanctions for its
nuclear and missile tests, but North Korean leader Kim Jong-il expressed his
intention to come back to the six-party talks earlier this month when he met with
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Pyongyang.
Kim, however, linked the North's participation to the outcome of the anticipated
bilateral talks with the U.S., which has yet to make a decision on whether to
send Bosworth to Pyongyang.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that the U.S. will not
lift sanctions on North Korea or normalize ties unless Pyongyang takes
irreversible steps toward denuclearization.
The top U.S. diplomat also said, "Within the framework of the six-party talks, we
are prepared to meet bilaterally with North Korea. But North Korea's return to
the negotiating table is not enough."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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