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."