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Bosworth to meet senior foreign minister in North

Published: 09 Nov. 2009, 01:07

WASHINGTON - The United States will soon announce that its special representative for North Korea policy, Stephen Bosworth, will visit Pyongyang to talk with Kang Sok-ju, first vice foreign minister of the reclusive communist state, a senior South Korean government official said.

“The United States will soon make an announcement about the U.S.-North Korea talks,” the high-ranking Seoul official said in a meeting with Korean journalists in the U.S. capital city. The Seoul official had met with Bosworth, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, and Sung Kim, Washington’s special envoy for the six-party talks on Thursday and Friday.

“I have not heard of any places other than Pyongyang,” the official said about the meeting venue for the senior level talks between the U.S. and North Korea.

“When Bosworth travels to North Korea, he will likely use a U.S. military plane to depart from South Korea or Japan,” the source said. “No U.S. or South Korean journalists will be allowed to accompany him,” he added.

Asked about how many rounds of bilateral talks are expected between Washington and Pyongyang, the official said, “No one prefers the talks to continue endlessly without an outcome.”

He added: “I won’t conclude that Washington and Pyongyang will talk bilaterally just once or twice, but it is Seoul’s position that they have to go back to the six-nation nuclear talks as soon as possible.”

The international media quoted U.S. officials as saying that the announcement may be imminent, possibly ahead of or during U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip to Asia.

Obama will arrive in Seoul on Nov. 18 and a summit with President Lee Myung-bak is scheduled during his two-day stay.

By Kim Jung-wook, Ser Myo-ja [[email protected]]