Text Fwd: S. Korean, U.S. nuclear envoys to meet in Hawaii

Yonhap News
2009/08/01 15:48 KST
S. Korean, U.S. nuclear envoys to meet in Hawaii

SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- The nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States will meet in Hawaii next week to exchange views about the diplomatic stalemate with North Korea on the sidelines of an international seminar, Seoul's foreign ministry said Saturday.

Wi Sung-lac, South Korea's top negotiator to the six-party talks on denuclearizing North Korea, and Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy for the talks, will hold informal discussions about the North while attending the closed-door, two-day seminar, which begins Tuesday
Their meeting will be a follow-up to the ASEAN Regional Forum, a security meeting of foreign ministers held in Thailand last month, the ministry said.

Seoul is also trying to set up a meeting between Wi and Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, who will also be attending the seminar hosted by the East-West Center, a U.S. research organization focused on the Asia-Pacific region.

If the two meet, they are expected to discuss the details of a proposed "comprehensive package" of incentives for North Korea should the communist nation dismantle its nuclear program in a complete and irreversible way, Wi's aides said earlier.

The Hawaii seminar will also be attended by: Keith Luse, senior professional staff member with the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Frank Jannuzi, senior East Asia specialist with the Foreign Relations Committee; James Kelly, a former assistant secretary of state who handled negotiations with North Korea; and Marcus Noland, senior researcher at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.