N. Korea officials willing to improve ties with U.S.+

NEW YORK, Oct. 31 Kyodo -
North Korean officials who took part in a private forum here Friday expressed
Pyongyang's willingness to improve relations with the United States, U.S.
participants said.
''I think the general impression was they were willing to engage,'' former U.S.
Ambassador to China Winston Lord said during a news conference.
The forum, sponsored by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and
the Korea Society, was attended by a North Korean delegation led by Ri Gun,
director general of the North American affairs bureau of North Korea's Foreign
Ministry.
There was no second round of direct contact between Ri and any U.S. official.
Sung Kim, U.S. special envoy for the six-party talks on ending North Korea's
nuclear programs who met Ri in New York a week ago, did not attend the forum
even though he was invited.
''Obviously there wasn't a need to have another follow-up meeting,'' a senior
State Department official said in Washington. ''Had there been a need,
certainly we would have tried to arrange something like that.''
A six-party source said earlier that during last week's talks with Kim, Ri
reiterated Pyongyang's position that it will return to the nuclear disarmament
negotiations if there is progress in bilateral discussions with Washington.
Ri arrived in the United States to participate in private-sector forums,
including Friday's. He is to leave for North Korea on Monday.
North Korea agreed in September 2005 to dismantle its nuclear programs in an
aid-for-denuclearization deal struck at the six-party talks involving North and
South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
But North Korea withdrew from the six-way talks in April to protest the U.N.
Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch, which was widely regarded
as a long-range missile test. Pyongyang added to the tension by detonating a
nuclear device for the second time in May.
Last month, Washington announced a plan to seek direct talks with Pyongyang as
part of efforts to resume the six-party negotiations.
==Kyodo
2009-10-31 18:53:36