 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
US NKorea envoy due in Beijing on Tuesday
Washington (AFP) March 2, 2009 The new US envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, is due in Beijing on Tuesday, a US official said, amid efforts to revive the nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea. "Weather permitting, he departs for Beijing today (Monday)," Gordon Duguid, a State Department spokesman, told reporters following a heavy snowstorm in Washington. "He is scheduled to meet with senior officials in Beijing. He will then visit Tokyo and Seoul and will consult with Russian officials, who will travel separately to the region," Duguid said. In announcing Bosworth's first tour as the North Korea envoy, the US State Department said last Thursday that Bosworth would travel to Moscow in addition to Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul. Now, Duguid said, Russian officials will travel to Asia to meet with Bosworth, but he did not say where and when he would meet the Russians. Under a landmark deal in 2007 with the United States and its partners, North Korea agreed to scrap its weapons-grade nuclear programs in exchange for badly-needed energy aid. But diplomats from the United States, Russia, China, South Korea and Japan late last year hit a deadlock in the negotiations when their counterparts from North Korea balked at their demands for verifying disarmament. Christopher Hill, the chief US negotiator on North Korean nuclear disarmament under president George W. Bush, said last week that Bosworth will also try to deter North Korea from test-firing a missile when he visits Asia. Pyongyang has said it is making brisk preparations to launch what it calls an experimental communications satellite. US officials fear it would amount to a test launch of a missile that could eventually carry a nuclear warhead. Duguid was non-committal when asked if the United States would back Japan in what Kyodo News said would be a push for a new UN resolution that would include extra sanctions if North Korea goes ahead with the launch. "The UN Security Council will decide what happens when their ... resolution is ... violated. We'll see what happens should there be a launch," Duguid told reporters. Related Links Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
N.Korea, UN hold talks amid border tensions
Seoul (AFP) March 2, 2009Generals from North Korea and the US-led UN Command in South Korea met for talks Monday for the first time in almost seven years as tensions rise over Pyongyang's planned rocket launch. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement |
