You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
China-Japan-Koreas
U.S. mulls letting Nork official in U.S. for 'seminar'
2009-10-10
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (Yonhap) -- The United States said Friday it has not yet made a decision on whether to approve a visit to the U.S. later this month by a North Korean official for a security forum.
Back door way to do negotiations?
"We are aware that nongovernmental organizations have invited Ambassador Ri Gun to participate in meetings in the U.S," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip Crowley said. "We have not yet made a decision whether to approve that travel."

The Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) has extended an invitation to Ri, director general of the North American affairs bureau of North Korea's Foreign Ministry, for an annual meeting, Crowley said. Reports said the meeting will be held in San Diego Oct. 26-27.

There are precedents for such travel. Ri visited New York last November to attend an academic seminar soon after the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president, and met with U.S. officials and key policy advisers to Obama.

Jung Tae-yang, vice director general of the American bureau of the North Korean Foreign Ministry, attended last year's session in Beijing of the NEACD, organized by the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at the University of California, San Diego, to bring together academics as well as government officials of the two Koreas, U.S., China, Russia and Japan, members of the six-way talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Alexander A. Arvizu, then-deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, attended the Beijing session last year.
Posted by:Steve White

00:00