ID :
211658
Fri, 10/07/2011 - 10:52
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/211658
The shortlink copeid
U.S. official says no plan for another meeting with N. Korea
SEOUL, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- The United States has no plans to hold a bilateral meeting with North Korea to discuss the stalled six-nation talks on the North's nuclear weapons programs, a senior U.S. diplomat said Friday.
Asked whether the U.S. planned to hold a second round of meetings with North Korea after their rare contact in late July in New York, Kurt Campbell, assistant U.S. secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, replied, "No plan."
Campbell, who arrived in Seoul earlier in the day and was scheduled to meet South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, gave his brief response on the sidelines of a security forum in Seoul.
Campbell's reply counters remarks by South Korean officials that Seoul and Washington have been in consultations on another round of contacts between the two countries.
Last month in Beijing, chief nuclear envoys from the two Koreas met for the second time to discuss terms for resuming the six-party talks, but no tangible progress was reported. They met in Indonesia in July for the first time in more than two years. That meeting led to the rare U.S.-North Korea contact in New York.
The six-party talks, aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic and political aid, have been dormant since Pyongyang quit in April 2009. The North then conducted its second nuclear test a month later.
Seoul and Washington have insisted that Pyongyang halt all nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment program, and allow U.N. inspectors to monitor the suspension as preconditions to reopening the six-party talks. North Korea, however, is pushing to resume the forum without any conditions attached.
Asked whether the U.S. planned to hold a second round of meetings with North Korea after their rare contact in late July in New York, Kurt Campbell, assistant U.S. secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, replied, "No plan."
Campbell, who arrived in Seoul earlier in the day and was scheduled to meet South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, gave his brief response on the sidelines of a security forum in Seoul.
Campbell's reply counters remarks by South Korean officials that Seoul and Washington have been in consultations on another round of contacts between the two countries.
Last month in Beijing, chief nuclear envoys from the two Koreas met for the second time to discuss terms for resuming the six-party talks, but no tangible progress was reported. They met in Indonesia in July for the first time in more than two years. That meeting led to the rare U.S.-North Korea contact in New York.
The six-party talks, aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic and political aid, have been dormant since Pyongyang quit in April 2009. The North then conducted its second nuclear test a month later.
Seoul and Washington have insisted that Pyongyang halt all nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment program, and allow U.N. inspectors to monitor the suspension as preconditions to reopening the six-party talks. North Korea, however, is pushing to resume the forum without any conditions attached.
