Informal talks made no progress to resume 6-way talks: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- The United States and North Korea failed to make
progress toward the resumption of the six-party talks on ending the North's
nuclear ambitions during informal talks on the margins of an academic seminar in
San Diego, the State Department said Wednesday.

Sung Kim, U.S. special envoy for the six-party talks, met with Ri Gun, director
general of the North American affairs bureau of the North's foreign ministry, on
the sidelines of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Dialogue (NEACD) Monday and
Tuesday at the University of California, San Diego, a State Department official
said.
"He did have informal talks with North Koreans and the other delegations," the
official said, asking anonymity. "I think it was a good dialogue and they were
able to air a lot of issues, but I am not prepared to say there was progress
towards resuming the six-party talks."
The anonymous official said that Kim will likely attend another seminar in New
York hosted by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and the Korea
Society Friday to continue informal talks with Ri, who is also attending the
seminar.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Kim is returning to Washington later
Wednesday
"We expect to have a readout from him when he comes back, a readout sometime
tomorrow," he said. "But I don't have any other announcements regarding bilateral
talks with North Korea."
In an hour-long meeting with Ri in New York Friday, Kim called on the North to
return to the six-party talks, deadlocked over U.N. sanctions on North Korea for
its nuclear and missile tests.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said Monday that the bilateral
dialogue between Ri and Kim focused on a visit to Pyongyang by Stephen Bosworth,
U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, for a breakthrough on the
stalled nuclear negotiations.
In a conciliatory gesture after months of provocations, North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il expressed his willingness to come back to the talks when he met with
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao earlier this month in Pyongyang.
Kim, however, linked the North's participation to the outcome of bilateral talks
with the U.S.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that the U.S. will not
lift sanctions on North Korea or normalize ties unless Pyongyang takes
irreversible steps toward denuclearization.
However, she left open the possibility of bilateral dialogue.
"Within the framework of the six-party talks, we are prepared to meet bilaterally
with North Korea," she said. "But North Korea's return to the negotiating table
is not enough."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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