ID :
194639
Wed, 07/13/2011 - 01:53
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/194639
The shortlink copeid
U.S. eyes top-level talks with S. Korea, Japan next week
(ATTN: UPDATES with possibility of meeting with N. Korean minister in last 4 paras)
By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, July 12 (Yonhap) -- The United States announced Tuesday that it plans to hold a tripartite foreign ministerial meeting with South Korea and Japan next week in Bali on the sidelines of an annual security forum.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit the Indonesian resort island to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum, her department said. ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"The United States looks forward to hosting a trilateral meeting with the government of Japan and the Republic of Korea," department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, making public the secretary's schedule for July 22.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and his Japanese counterpart, Takeaki Matsumoto, will also join the forum, which draws top diplomats from the 10 Southeast Asian nations and more than two dozen other nations, including the U.S., China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas. The North Korean nuclear standoff is usually high on the agenda.
But Nuland did not specify the main topic of the trilateral session.
She said Clinton will also meet with the foreign ministers of the East Asia Summit (EAS) while in Bali to prepare for President Barack Obama's participation for the first time in the EAS to be held in Indonesia in November.
The EAS includes South Korea, China, Japan, Australia, India and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun plans to attend the upcoming ARF, according to diplomatic sources in Seoul and Washington.
A source here ruled out the possibility of a separate meeting between Clinton and Pak in Bali.
"It would not be possible," the source said, requesting anonymity.
In 2004, then-North Korean Foreign Minister Paik Nam-sun had an informal, 20-minute meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during the ARF in Jakarta. The two sides have not arranged such a meeting since then.
By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, July 12 (Yonhap) -- The United States announced Tuesday that it plans to hold a tripartite foreign ministerial meeting with South Korea and Japan next week in Bali on the sidelines of an annual security forum.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit the Indonesian resort island to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum, her department said. ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"The United States looks forward to hosting a trilateral meeting with the government of Japan and the Republic of Korea," department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, making public the secretary's schedule for July 22.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and his Japanese counterpart, Takeaki Matsumoto, will also join the forum, which draws top diplomats from the 10 Southeast Asian nations and more than two dozen other nations, including the U.S., China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas. The North Korean nuclear standoff is usually high on the agenda.
But Nuland did not specify the main topic of the trilateral session.
She said Clinton will also meet with the foreign ministers of the East Asia Summit (EAS) while in Bali to prepare for President Barack Obama's participation for the first time in the EAS to be held in Indonesia in November.
The EAS includes South Korea, China, Japan, Australia, India and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun plans to attend the upcoming ARF, according to diplomatic sources in Seoul and Washington.
A source here ruled out the possibility of a separate meeting between Clinton and Pak in Bali.
"It would not be possible," the source said, requesting anonymity.
In 2004, then-North Korean Foreign Minister Paik Nam-sun had an informal, 20-minute meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during the ARF in Jakarta. The two sides have not arranged such a meeting since then.
