N. Korean officials arrive in Hanoi for ARF debut

N. Korean officials arrive in Hanoi for ARF debut

HANOI (AFP): North Korean officials touched down amid tight security here on Tuesday for a rare appearance on an international stage at its first official meeting with delegates from the ASEAN Regional Forum, diplomats said.

"The potential meeting of North Korea as a fully fledged member will be the highlight. Security issues and NMD (National Missile Defense) should also be main issues," one diplomat told AFP.

The North Korean delegation arrived at Hanoi airport at 3:45 p.m.

The hardline communist state was admitted from the sidelines to the ASEAN Regional Forum last year. The forum encompasses 23 countries with members of The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as its core.

Since then, with the encouragement of South Korea, North Korea has scored a string of coups aimed at breaking its hermit status beginning with a North/South landmark summit last June.

Diplomatic relations have been set up with countries around the world and in Brussels on Monday the European Commission was added to the list when it announced it would establish diplomatic ties with Pyongyang.

The North Korean delegation to Hanoi was expected to be led by Ri Yong-ho. Ri has been charged with confidence-building measures within his country's foreign ministry leading to speculation of contact being made with the U.S. at the meeting.

However, diplomats have rejected the speculation.

One East Asian diplomat said while a "brief chat or a handshake was possible" with James Kelly: "I can assure you it is crystal clear that formal talks are not going to happen. There is no such plan."

Kelly, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, is leading a United States team touring Asia to allay fears and reassure allies over his country's planned missile defense system.

He was due to arrive here on Wednesday from Beijing where China remains an ardent critic of NMD. Beijing says NMD violates the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty signed by the former Soviet Union and the U.S. in 1972.

But Washington claims NMD is aimed at protecting the U.S. and its allies from rogue states.

The U.S. team was expected to book into a city hotel.

"The North Koreans will probably do what they always do and stay at their embassy, so a chance meeting in the corridors of a hotel is also unlikely," another diplomat said.

Any meeting between representatives of Stalinist North Korea and Washington would be the first since the election of U.S. President George W. Bush four months ago.

Rapprochement talks between North and South Korea have stalled since the Bush administration took power and announced a review of its policy towards Pyongyang.

But the U.S. policy review was seen as signaling a shift in stance towards the communist state, with the new administration making no secret of its distaste for the regime led by Kim Jong- Il.

The previous administration of Bill Clinton had sought to back Seoul's efforts to prize Pyongyang out of its shell and achieve a reconciliation on the Korean peninsula.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Members were earlier meeting in closed-door discussions.

A Vietnamese ASEAN foreign affairs spokesman said forum delegates were expected to focus on closing the development gap between member countries.

This included infrastructure, human resources and information technology. They were expected to pass a draft of the Hanoi Declaration on ASEAN aimed at "narrowing the development gap for energetic and sustainable growth."