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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Norks, U.S. unlikely to meet at ASEAN forum |
| 2009-07-21 |
| SEOUL, July 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea and the United States are unlikely to hold a bilateral meeting at the upcoming ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which Pyongyang's chief diplomat is not expected to attend, Seoul's foreign minister said Monday. North Korea has notified host Thailand that it will send a vice foreign minister-level official, not its Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun, to the forum set for Thursday in the Thai resort island of Phuket. The decision came as Pyongyang is locked in a tense standoff with the outside world over its missile and nuclear programs. "It (bilateral contact) won't be easy, unless Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun of the North is coming," Seoul's Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters before leaving for Thailand. Yu said the Thai government and other sources have confirmed to Seoul that the North is sending Park Keun-gwang, a vice foreign minister-level ambassador, to ARF on behalf of the foreign minister. North Korea has often dispatched its foreign minister to the annual event, which groups 10 ASEAN member countries and 17 other nations. The participants include the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, and the two Koreas who make up the six-way talks on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. has said its delegation, led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will attend the ARF. |
| Posted by:Steve White |