N. Korea says open to meeting U.S. in regional forum

(ATTN: UPDATES with meeting between S. Korean, Indonesian foreign ministers in last
4 paras)
By Lee Chi-dong
PHUKET, Thailand, July 21 (Yonhap) -- A delegation of five North Korean officials
arrived here Tuesday to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), leaving room for a
surprise bilateral meeting with U.S. officials on the sidelines of this week's
annual event.

When asked whether they will meet with the U.S. side, Ri Tong-il, director of the
disarmament department at the North's foreign ministry, reportedly said "it will
depend on the situation." Ri made the comments to a group of reporters during a
flight from Bangkok to Phuket.
He apparently serves as spokesman for the delegation, headed by Amb. Pak
Kun-gwang. Pak is a vice foreign minister-level official at Pyongyang's foreign
ministry, according to the North's embassy in Bangkok. He has served as North
Korea's ambassador to Namibia and several other African countries.
The North's officials, however, gave no comment at the Phuket airport as they
were whisked away by a convoy of sedans upon arrival.
It remains unclear whether North Korea and the U.S. will have a bilateral meeting
during the ARF, in which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will participate.
The communist nation did not send its Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun, dashing hopes
for the first high-level meeting between the two sides since the Obama
administration was launched early this year.
The North's decision to send a lower-level official as its chief representative
to the ARF, an annual meeting of top diplomats from more than a dozen nations,
disappointed host Thailand and other participants who expected a breakthrough in
stalled efforts to bring the North back to the negotiating table. This year's
session is likely to focus on North Korea, Myanmar, and the latest bomb attacks
on two U.S.-owned hotels in Jakarta.
The Thai government asked Pyongyang to send Foreign Minister Pak to the forum,
saying it could provide a chance for Pak to explain his nation's recent actions,
including a second nuclear test on May 25, and discuss future steps on the issue.
In response to media reports that the North is not sending its foreign minister
to this year's ARF, the U.S. said earlier it has no plan for a separate meeting
with the North Korean delegation.
Clinton also said North Koreans are "unruly teenagers," citing their continued
provocations apparently aimed at grabbing attention.
"What we've seen is this constant demand for attention," Clinton said in an
interview that aired on ABC's "Good Morning America" shortly before flying to
Thailand from India.
"And maybe it's the mother in me or the experience that I've had with small
children and unruly teenagers and people who are demanding attention -- don't
give it to them, they don't deserve it, they are acting out," she said.
Diplomatic sources, however, say U.S. officials may decide to meet the North
Korean delegates here in an effort to win the release of two American journalists
detained in North Korea.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee of the U.S. media group Current TV were arrested in March
near the China-North Korea border while on a trip to report on North Korean
defectors. They were convicted of "great crimes" and sentenced to 12 years of
hard labor.
The ARF, one of the few international meetings in which the North participates,
has in the past provided a chance for the two sides to have high-level meetings
outside of the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.
In the previous session in Singapore last year, Pak had an unprecedented
six-party meeting with his counterparts from other members of the talks -- South
Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
In 2004, then North Korean Foreign Minister Paik Nam-sun had a 20-minute
bilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during the ARF held
in Jakarta.
North Korea has been sending its foreign minister to the ARF in recent years. In
an unusual case, it sent Ho Jong, an ambassador-at-large, to a 2003 session in
Cambodia amid Pyongyang's standoff with Washington. Ho is now Pyongyang's
ambassador to Kuwait.
Meanwhile, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan used a meeting with his
Indonesian counterpart, Hassan Wirajuda, earlier Tuesday to thank Southeast
Asian nations for sending a resolute message to North Korea at their latest
gathering, according to Moon Tae-young, spokesman for Seoul's delegation.
The foreign ministers from the 10 ASEAN member countries criticized the North's
recent underground nuclear test and missile launches.
"We urged the DPRK (North Korea) to fully comply with its obligations and
relevant UNSC (sanctions) resolutions," they said at the Joint Communique of the
42nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting issued on Monday here.
"We also urged all concerned parties to return to the six-party talks process as
soon as possible and fully implement their commitments made in previous rounds of
the six-party talks, which remain the main mechanism for achieving peace and
stability on the Korean Peninsula," the statement read.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)