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North Korean to Miss UN Meetings, US Says
North Korea told the United States on Monday that Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sum cannot come to New York this week for the UN General Assembly, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
The North Koreans said Paek would miss the event for "unavoidable reasons" but they did not link it to the case of North Korean head of state Kim Yong-nam, who boycotted last week's UN Millennium Summit in New York in protest at a body search required by American Airlines at Frankfurt airport.
"They did assure us that this development would not have a negative effect on the ongoing US-North Korean dialogue and we have no indication from the North Koreans that Foreign Minister Paek's travel plans are in any way connected with the events at Frankfurt airport," Boucher said.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wrote to Paek last week to express regret at the incident in Frankfurt and Paek, who met her in Bangkok for the first time earlier this year, wrote back that he acknowledged her regret.
Albright said on Friday that she expected Paek to come to New York this week and US officials said they thought a meeting would take place.
Albright quoted Paek as saying in his reply that the Frankfurt incident "will not affect in any way our continuing evolutionary relationship."
Boucher said the United States and North Korea, which do not have diplomatic relations, were in touch through their missions to the United Nations on setting a date for a new round of talks on North Korea's ballistic missile programmes.
"We hope the next round will take place soon," he added. The last round took place in Kuala Lumpur in June.
The United States is trying to persuade North Korea to abandon the missile programmes, which have been a major factor in the controversial drive in the United States to develop a system to defend the country against incoming missiles.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has reportedly offered to give up the missiles in exchange for foreign financial assistance in launching North Korea's satellites.
US and Japanese officials said earlier on Monday they were still seeking more information about the offer. One South Korean publication later quoted Kim Jong-il as saying he was joking but Washington says it is taking him seriously.
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