No deal with North Korea
Despite reports out of Asia, no deal was struck during interactions between U.S. and North Korean negotiators at the conference in San Diego this week and North Korean representatives did not indicate in any public way that they were altering their position related to resuming the Six Party Talks. The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest daily ...
Despite reports out of Asia, no deal was struck during interactions between U.S. and North Korean negotiators at the conference in San Diego this week and North Korean representatives did not indicate in any public way that they were altering their position related to resuming the Six Party Talks.
Despite reports out of Asia, no deal was struck during interactions between U.S. and North Korean negotiators at the conference in San Diego this week and North Korean representatives did not indicate in any public way that they were altering their position related to resuming the Six Party Talks.
The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest daily newspaper, reported Thursday that North Korean negotiator Ri Gun and U.S. Special Envoy Sung Kim agreed in principle to arrange a visit to Pyongyang by the end of November for Ambassador Stephen Bosworth.
Not so, administration sources tell The Cable. A State Department official said that no further bilateral meetings between the U.S. and North Korea are scheduled and it’s not yet clear whether or not Sung Kim will go to New York tomorrow to meet with Ri Gun one more time before he leaves the country (many experts expect Kim to make the trip).
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters today, "The U.S. has made no decision for Ambassador Bosworth to accept the invitation of North Korea to have bilateral talks."
The Yomiuri report speculated that the Bosworth visit could lead to a resumption of the Six Party Talks before the end of the year. Insiders repeatedly warn that would only be possible if North Korea affirmed its commitment to the Sept. 19 declaration where it pledged to pursue nuclear disarmament.
One State Department source told The Cable that Ri made no such concessions in San Diego, at least in the group sessions. In fact, if he would have made any such statements, it would directly contradict public statements of Kim Jong Il, the Dear Leader.
State Department Korea desk chief Kurt Tong and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell will go to Singapore November 6 to attend the beginning of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. President Obama will attend the end of the conference Nov. 14 and 15.
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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