Informal North Korean talks possible in Jakarta: Report

Informal North Korean talks possible in Jakarta: Report

Reuters, Tokyo

North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun will attend a meeting
of an Asian regional forum next month in Jakarta, where he may
take part in informal six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear
programs, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said on Friday.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda told the Japanese
newspaper he had issued an invitation to Paek to take part in a
meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) during a visit to
Pyongyang earlier this month.

Indonesia is currently chairing the 23-member group.

An Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial
meeting and the ARF meeting are to be held in Jakarta from June
29 through July 2.

Hassan was quoted as saying he had told Paek that he would try
to arrange for officials from the countries concerned to get
together for an informal meeting on North Korea's nuclear
programs and that the North had accepted the invitation.

Working-level talks on North Korea's nuclear programs are due
to be held in Beijing on May 12. The six countries involved are
China, Russia, the United States, Japan and the two Koreas.

When the six met in Beijing in February, they agreed to hold
another round of negotiations by the end of June and lower-level
"working group" talks before that.

Two rounds of top-level talks have been held but no real
progress has been made toward the U.S. goal of the "complete,
verifiable and irreversible" dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear
capabilities.

In a separate development, the South Korean unification
minister said on Friday North and South Korean generals will meet
soon for their first talks on easing tensions at the world's last
Cold War frontier.

Jeong Se-hyun, briefing reporters after returning from three
days of talks in Pyongyang, said the two sides had agreed to the
talks after the powerful North Korean military approved the idea.

Asked when the talks would take place, Jeong quoted the North
Korean chief delegate as saying, "It will be soon" and "You won't
have to wait long."