North Korea to attend US talks

Posted by PIMPIN TURTLE at 2/28/2007 2:32 PM and is filed under THE WAR MACHINE,North Korea
North Korea to attend US talks


Kim Kye-Gwan, North Korea's
vice foreign minister[GALLO/GETTY]

Senior US and North Korean officials will hold talks next week in New York in a first step  towards the normalisation of diplomatic relations, the US state department has said.

Christopher Hill, the US assistant secretary of state, will meet Kim Kye-Gwan, North Korea's vice foreign minister, department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Wednesday.

The meetings on Monday and Tuesday will be the first between US and North Korea officials since a February 13 agreement under which Pyongyang promised to freeze its nuclear programme.


Under the multi-phase deal reached through six-nation negotiations, North Korea agreed to shut down its main nuclear facility and begin steps towards giving up its nuclear weapons programme.
 
In exchange, foreign governments promised to donate hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and moves towards "full diplomatic relations" with the US.
 
McCormack called next week's talks a first step "towards that normalisation".
 
But he cautioned that "there's a lot of work to do" and that the main focus remained on pursuing six-party negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and arsenal.
 
Negotiator arrives on Thursday
 
Kim, North Korea's main nuclear negotiator, arrived in San Francisco from Beijing on Thursday for a day of meetings with non-governmental organisations. He is due to fly to New York on Friday, McCormack said.
 
Under the February 13 deal, the US also agreed to begin the process of removing North Korea from its official list of "terrorist" states and to start unwinding US trade sanctions against the communist nation.
 
McCormack said those measures were being looked into by US officials, but he provided no timeframe for action.
 
The six parties are China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia and the United States.
LINK

 del.icio.us  Stumbleupon  Technorati  Digg 

 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this entry
  • No trackbacks exist for this entry.
Comments
  • No comments exist for this entry.
Leave a comment

 Enter the above security code (required)

 Name (required)

 Email (will not be published) (required)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.