YONHAP NEWS

N. Korean nuke envoy guarded over dialogue with Americans

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.

   "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.

   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.

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