Moves taken to restart 6-party talks
Rumors continue that North Korean National Defence Commission chairman Kim Jong-il is preparing to visit China. At the same time, Diplomats from countries participating in the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue have been busy consulting one another ahead of the U.S.-Korea summit on September 14. Chun Young-woo, Korea’s top delegate to the six-party process, will visit Washington D.C. August 30 and 31 to meet with his counterpart, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced Tuesday.Hill is scheduled to visit Tokyo, Beijing, and Seoul this weekend to discuss ways of restarting the six-party talks and resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and Pyongyang’s recent missile launch. The nations to the six-party talks are the two Koreas, China, Japan, the U.S., and Russia. Observers are saying it is somewhat unconventional for Chun to be going to Washington just days before Hill is to visit Seoul. Kenichiro Sasae, Japan’s chief negotiator at the six-party talks, was in Seoul on August 24 and met with Chun. Meanwhile, Seoul officials are said to believe there is credibility to the rumor, which began circulating last week, that Kim Jong-il is soon to travel to Beijing. Observers say that a meeting between Kim and Chinese president Hu Jintao would, together with the U.S.-Korea summit, determine much of the future of the six-party process.
