U.S.,North Korea Raise Level for Renewed Talks

WASHINGTON - Contacts between United States and North Korea, abruptly halted at the outset of the Bush administration, will reopen Wednesday in New York, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

Jack Pritchard, special envoy for Korea Peace Talks, will meet with Ri Hyong Chol, North Korean ambassador to the United Nations. At the day-long talks, the parties will try to set a date and place for higher-level discussions of a broad agenda including North Korea's missile programs and exports.

A State Department official said that Washington had asked Pyongyang for the entry-level meeting after Mr. Bush's announced plans for a re-engagement, and Pyongyang responded favorably.

Diplomatic sources had forecast that Edward Dong, director the State Department's office of Korean affairs, would sit at the table with Ri Gun, deputy ambassador at the North Korean representation office. The upgrading of the level of representative reflects the two parties' desire to get on a proper footing, as they look to set a new course for future bilateral relations. Watchers suggested that Washington had calculated the upgrade to assuage the wounded pride of the communist regime after the unilateral American break-off of dialogue.

No one is confidently guessing Pyongyang's response to the new U.S. administration's package of negotiating goals for resuming dialogue and improving relations with North Korea. After several months of review of U.S. policy, Mr. Bush last week called on his foreign affairs team to discuss with North Korea its nuclear activities, missile programs and missile exports, "and a less-threatening conventional military posture."

In the past week, official North Korean broadcasts and newspapers have blasted Washington's demand for verification of any agreements. In turn, it demanded that United States withdraw its 37,000-strong forces stationed in South Korea.

Meanwhile, in Seoul Wednesday Wendy Sherman, the Bill Clinton ad-ministration's top North Korean policy coordinator, forecast that the New York talks would be "serious and productive."

"The United States is fortunate to have Jack Pritchard. He is an expert, and well-known to the North Koreans," Mrs. Sherman said.

She also hailed President Bush's decision to re-engage with North Korea, and urged the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, to visit Seoul, emphasizing that there is not much time left for engagement to move forward. Such a visit, she said, would make it "virtually irreversible for the United States to continue to move forward with North Korea."

by Kim Jin