North Korea's No. 2 nuclear negotiator met a high-ranking U.S. diplomat Saturday in New York City, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 23).
(Oct. 26) -
North Korean nuclear negotiator Ri Gun, shown in 2007, met Saturday with a senior U.S. State Department official (Teh Eng-koon/Getty Images).
U.S. special representative for North Korean nuclear negotiations Sung Kim "took the opportunity to meet with [Ri Gun] in New York on Oct. 24 to convey our position on denuclearization and the six-party talks" said State Department spokesman Noel Clay in a prepared statement.
Ri is in the United States to take part in academic conferences in San Diego and New York. Derek Mitchell, principal deputy assistant defense secretary for Asian and Pacific security affairs, is also set to attend the San Diego forum (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Oct. 24).
Ri's trip comes in the midst of repeated requests by Pyongyang for direct negotiations with Washington. The Obama administration has said that it will only participate in bilateral meetings if they are followed quickly by North Korea's return to the stalled six-party nuclear negotiations, which also include China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. The last multilateral meeting occurred in December 2008, after a period which saw the North take some steps toward shuttering its nuclear sector.
This past spring, North Korea carried out its second nuclear test and several missile launches. The U.N. Security Council responded with additional sanctions against the isolated and impoverished country.
During his one-hour meeting with Kim, the North Korean envoy reportedly "largely listened to the U.S. stance" on multiparty negotiations and on the North's request for a meeting with U.S. special envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth, said South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.
Yu, who was briefed by Washington on the meeting, said that Ri had relayed the Obama administration's position to Pyongyang, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
More meetings are anticipated as taking place between Ri and Kim today or tomorrow in San Diego or later this week when the North Korean official returns to New York for the second conference (Korea Herald, Oct. 26).
Meanwhile, Washington on Friday placed a hold on assets of the Amroggang Development Bank, after the U.S. Treasury Department ruled that the North Korean financial entity was aiding the spread of weapons of mass destruction, Agence France-Press reported.
Amroggang is an arm of the previously penalized North Korean Tanchon Commercial Bank, according to the Treasury Department.
The department has already identified Tanchon bank President Kim Tong Myong as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and placed a hold on his assets.
Tanchon is believed to be the financial wing of Korea Mining Development Corp., the North's leading weapons dealer. The Treasury Department has connected Tanchon to the sale of ballistic missiles from Korea Mining to Iran (Agence France-Presse II/Google News, Oct. 24).
The latest designation occurred under Executive Order 13382, which "freezes the assets of designated proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters and prohibits U.S. persons from engaging in any transactions with them," according to the Treasury Department.
"As long as North Korea continues to try to evade sanctions and obscure its illicit proliferation transactions, we will take steps to combat that activity and protect the integrity of the international financial system," said Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey in a press release (U.S. Treasury Department release, Oct. 23).