US, N Korea officials meet

2005-06-06 22:04

Washington - The United States held another rare bilateral meeting with North Korea on Monday in New York, hoping to kick-start stalled talks on Pyongyang's nuclear arms programme, the state department said.

Spokesperson Sean McCormack said the meeting arose out of "procedural contacts". He would not give any further details.

But an official who asked not to be named said Joseph DiTrani, US special envoy the six-party negotiations, and Jim Foster, head of the state department's office of Korean affairs, met with an unnamed North Korean.

It was the second time in less than a month that the United States, which has largely spurned direct talks with North Korea, had opened up the so-called "New York channel" via Pyongyang's mission to the United Nations.

The new contacts came a year after the breakdown in negotiations launched by the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia in an effort to wean the North Koreans off nuclear weapons.

DiTrani and Foster met last month with Pak Kil-Yon, Pyongyang's UN ambassador, and his deputy Han Song-Ryol, reportedly to reassure North Korea the United States considered it a "sovereign" nation and would not attack it.

The White House would not confirm this at the time ,but said only that the channel was used to reiterate the standard US message that the North Koreans had to return to the six-party talks without conditions.

White House spokesperson Scott McClellan told reporters before Monday's meeting in New York that they were hopeful North Korea would be responding soon to appeals for an early resumption of the negotiations.

He stressed that the New York channel "is used simply to communicate messages. It's not used to negotiate by any means".

US officials have been frustrated at Pyongyang's refusal to return to the bargaining table.

They are also worried by speculation the insular Asian state was boosting is nuclear arsenal and perhaps preparing for its first test.

A senior US defence official said on Sunday that Washington would likely decide in weeks whether to take the matter before the United Nations.

But secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said things were not likely to move so fast.

- AFP