US Secretary of State Colin Powell and North Korea's foreign minister discussed Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions yesterday, the highest-level bilateral meeting since a crisis over the North's atomic plans erupted almost two years ago.
Powell and Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun held a 20-minute scheduled discussion over mineral water on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum security talks in Jakarta.
"The secretary said there was an opportunity for concrete progress," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, reflecting signs of new-found flexibility by the US to end an impasse that has cast a shadow over the security of north Asia.
While North Korea put a positive spin on the talks, it stressed after the meeting that the two sides did not trust each other and stuck to its position that Washington should guarantee it would not attack and would reward the impoverished communist state if it freezes its programs.
"If the United States is of the position to improve the bilateral relations, the DPRK also will not regard the US as a permanent enemy," Paek said in a statement. DPRK -- the Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- is North Korea's official name.
The two officials last met over a cup of coffee at the ASEAN forum two years ago in Brunei in a much less formal encounter. That took place shortly before the nuclear crisis erupted in October 2002 when Washington said Pyongyang admitted to illegally developing nuclear arms.
Yesterday's discussion followed a third round of six-party talks to resolve the standoff last week in Beijing that included the most detailed US proposal to date in a sign of a real start to negotiations.
The meeting and proposal represent the most conciliatory US overtures to North Korea since President George W. Bush bracketed the Stalinist state part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and pre-war Iraq.
"As I mentioned earlier, both sides agreed in principle to establish trust which we are lacking. We agreed to that in principle, so the atmosphere at the meeting was good," North Korean Foreign Ministry official Chung Song-il told reporters.
But the two sides remain far apart because of a fundamental dispute over the extent of the suspected programs and the North's desire to have a deterrent to ensure its communist system endures, political analysts have said.
"The secretary emphasized the administration's proposals to move forward on dismantlement of North Korean nuclear programs," Boucher said of yesterday's meeting. "The discussion was useful to help clarify each side's proposal."
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS