Posted on 06/16/2005 11:00:44 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050617/610000000020050617142114E2.html
(5th LD) Kim Jong-il meets visiting South Korean official
PYONGYANG, June 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il held a rare meeting with a South Korean official Friday but there was no indication that their discussions included the ongoing tension over the communist country's nuclear program.
South Korean officials in Pyongyang, the North's capital, confirmed the luncheon meeting between their unification minister, Chung Dong-young and Kim but provided few other details.
Also invited to the luncheon were several former South Korean officials whom the North Korean leader had met. They included Lim Dong-won and Park Jae-kyu who served as unification ministers under the government of former President Kim Dae-jung.
The meeting was arranged a few hours before Chung and his 40-member South Korean government delegation was to return home after attending the fifth anniversary celebrations in Pyongyang of the historic June 15, 2000 inter-Korean summit.
The reclusive North Korean leader rarely meets outside visitors.
Almost simultaneously in South Korea, officials interrogated three civilian-clad people claiming to be defectors from North Korea. A man and a woman were found drifting aboard a small boat off South Korea's west coast and another man was spotted in a South Korean town close to the central land border with North Korea.
North Korean defection across the heavily militarized inter-Korean border is rare. Most North Koreans defect to South Korea via China. About 6,700 North Koreans have defected to the South since the Korean War ended in 1953.
South Korean officials attached great significance to the Pyongyang meeting, believing that it will serve as a direct opportunity to convey their concern over the long-running nuclear tension.
Before Chung's trip to the North, South Korean officials had said their delegation would try to persuade the North's leadership to change its mind and rejoin stalled six-way talks on its nuclear program.
After three round of six-nation talks, which comprise the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, ended without a breakthrough last year, Pyongyang refused to attend further talks, citing U.S. hostility.
The 32-month nuclear dispute gained a new degree of urgency after North Korea in February declared itself a nuclear power and later halted the operation of its key reactor in an apparent attempt to harvest more weapons-grade plutonium.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush met at the White House last Friday and agreed to continue diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue peacefully.
Bush confirmed that the United States has no plan to invade the North and promised "more normal relations" with the communist country if it renounces its nuclear ambitions.
In a meeting with Chung on Thursday night, Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, said his country was ready to improve ties with the United States on an equal footing.
"We'll regard the United States as a friend if Washington recognizes our system," said Kim Yong-nam, who serves as the North's ceremonial head of state.
Despite Washington's repeated denials, North Korea suspects that it might be the next U.S. target after Iraq. While calling for a peaceful end to the nuclear crisis, the United States has not ruled out military options.
The nuclear row erupted in 2002 when U.S. officials accused North Korea of pushing a secret uranium program to make bombs, in addition to its known plutonium program. The North has denied the U.S. allegation.
S. Korean delegation reportedly brought the message agreed upon during Bush-Roh meeting on June 10th at the White House. They would be bringing the response back to Mr. Hill. It is rather unusual that they are tight-lipped about what went on. They usually love to publicize anything construed as a good news. Either they got the bad news, or were urged to keep quiet by somebody(Americans?).
http://english.people.com.cn/200506/15/eng20050615_190458.html
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| US nuclear negotiator arrives in Seoul |
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US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who leads US negotiations on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, arrived in Seoul on Wednesday for a five- day visit here. The former US ambassador to South Korea will hold talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and National Security Advisor Kwon Jin-ho on Thursday, said South Korean national Yonhap News Agency. Hill's trip comes days after South Korean President Roh Moo- hyun and US President George W. Bush met in Washington last week and reaffirmed that they would continue to pursue a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue. Hill, who served as ambassador to Seoul before assuming the current post earlier in the year, is expected to spend the rest of his five-day stay with his family that has remained in Seoul, according to Yonhap. Source: Xinhua |
AHH Sweet Chia Pet won't be so roney
Yeah something major is up Tiger I don't know what only report I see is on Tass news wire right now I am on another window on that site moiniter what Chia Pet is up too
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