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ROK envoy to meet US officials over DPRK
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-03 15:28 SEOUL, Republic of Korea: The nuclear envoy of the Republic of Korea (ROK) will meet key US diplomats in charge of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) policy in Hawaii this week to talk about how to handle Pyongyang in the wake of its latest nuclear and missile tests, his office said Monday.
Envoy Wi Sung-lac plans to meet US special envoy Stephen Bosworth and Ambassador Sung Kim, a State Department official in charge of ongoing nuclear talks on the DPRK, on Tuesday and Wednesday. Their discussions will be a brainstorming session aimed at finding ways forward, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Pyongyang has said it won't return to the six-nation talks, but it has strongly indicated it is interested in one-on-one negotiations with Washington. The six-nation talks bring together China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States.
As a way to pressure Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table, Washington has been seeking international support for strict enforcement of a UN sanctions resolution adopted to punish the DPRK for its May 25 nuclear test. The DPRK has rapidly escalated tensions this year. It conducted a long-range rocket launch, quit six-nation talks on ending its nuclear program, restarted its nuclear facilities, carried out its second-ever nuclear test and test-fired a series of ballistic missiles. |