N. Korean nuke envoy guarded over dialogue with Americans

(ATTN: UPDATES with U.S. scholars' comments after meeting with N. Korean official)
NEW YORK, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's deputy nuclear envoy said Friday that
he held a "useful dialogue" with American scholars here but did not give details
on the meeting.
"I had a useful dialogue," Ri Gun, who also serves as head of the North American
bureau at the North's foreign ministry, told reporters after emerging from a
seminar organized by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and the
Korea Society.
Ri said he attended seminars in San Diego and New York and met with Sung Kim, the
U.S. special envoy to six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, "at the
U.S. request."
But he was tightlipped about addressing other questions, including whether and
when Stephen Bosworth, Washington's special representative for North Korea
policy, will visit Pyongyang.
U.S. figures who attended the meeting with Ri said there were some positive,
albeit not concrete, signs.
Winston Lord, a former U.S. ambassador to China and assistant Secretary of State
for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said, "The mood was much better than we've
seen in months."
He added, however, that he heard no specific initiatives that would lead to
breakthroughs during the group sessions.
Evans Revere, president of the Korea Society and a former State Department
official, also said, "We have heard and read comments coming from the DPRK (North
Korea) side in various ways that suggest that there has been an uptick in North
Korean interest in resuming bilateral and even multilateral dialogue,"
Ri and Sung Kim held one-hour talks in New York last weekend, where they
apparently discussed conditions for Bosworth's trip to the North. Their meeting
was the first government-level talks between the two sides since President Barack
Obama took office early this year.
The results of the Ri-Kim meeting remain a secret, but major Japanese daily
Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the two reached a "basic agreement" on Bosworth's
visit to Pyongyang in late November.
The U.S. State Department denied the report, saying there has been no formal
agreement.
Both Ri and Kim also attended the Northeast Asia Cooperative Dialogue held in San
Diego earlier this week and held unofficial meetings.
Media reports speculated the two would meet again in New York but Kim did not
show up.
"He did not go to New York, and as far as I know, no other department officials
are going to New York," Robert Wood, deputy department spokesman, said at a press
briefing.
The North Korean official is scheduled to return home next Monday.
(END)