North Korea, U.S. Officials Meet in New York

North Korean officials told their U.S. counterparts yesterday that Pyongyang intends to resume talks on its nuclear program but was not yet ready to set a date for a new round, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, June 6).

Pyongyang requested the meeting, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

A U.S. official familiar with the one-hour discussion and two Asian officials briefed by the U.S. side said the North Korean message was noncommittal.

“This is their effort to show they are still in the game,” said the U.S. official.

A senior Asian diplomat said “nothing spectacular” occurred. “It is a gesture” by North Korea, “a very neutral thing,” he said.

U.S. special envoy Joseph DeTrani, and James Foster, director of the State Department’s Office of Korean Affairs met with North Korea’s U.N. ambassador, Pak Gil Yon, and deputy U.N. ambassador, Han Song Ryol, the Post reported (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, June 7).

Meanwhile, North Korea has indicated through Chinese intermediaries willingness to hold three-way nuclear talks with China and the United States, a State Department official told Reuters today.

While Washington wants Tokyo and Seoul at the table, it has not ruled out pursuing three-way talks, the official said.

“We will continue to press for five, but we will keep talking (and) keep in very close touch with the Chinese,” the official said, adding that Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo was expected in Washington later this week.

Dai has just completed a four-day visit to Pyongyang and is expected to meet with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, according to Reuters.

Powell said Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing briefed him on Dai’s Pyongyang trip during a “long conversation” yesterday (Reuters, June 7).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.