YONHAP NEWS

(LEAD) N. Korean delegation in New York for talks with U.S.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean delegation arrived in New York Friday to meet with U.S. officials to discuss holding bilateral talks in Pyongyang for a breakthrough on stalled six-party nuclear talks.

   Upon arriving at JFK airport on a Northwest Airlines flight from Japan's Narita airport, the head of the delegation, Ri Gun, director general of the North American affairs bureau of North Korea's Foreign Ministry, would not elaborate on his itinerary.

   "I will tell you later," he told reporters before being whisked away by a sedan.

   Ri is expected to meet with Sung Kim, U.S. special envoy for six-party talks, in San Diego and New York on the sidelines of seminars there.

   State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that his department has not yet made a decision on who will represent the U.S. in the seminars.

   "It hasn't been decided yet," he said. "As soon as it's determined who's going to go to participate in these meetings, we'll let you know."

   Asked if the North Korean delegation will meet with U.S. officials in New York over the weekend, Kelly said, "I don't have anything to announce about that. But I certainly wouldn't exclude it."

   Another official, who asked not to be identified, said that he expected Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will approve the plans by Sung Kim to travel to New York and San Diego for talks with Ri, although more urgent work on Afghanistan and Pakistan has prevented her from signing the plans for talks with the North.

   Ri, also North Korea's deputy chief to the six-nation nuclear talks, led a North Korean delegation to Beijing earlier this week on his way to the United States.

   Ri and Kim are expected 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.

   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. 26-27 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.

   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 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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