S-N ministers to meet at U.N. in September

It has been revealed that Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Lee Joung-Binn will meet his North Korean counterpart, Paek Nam-Sun, in September during the U.N. Millennium General Assembly in New York.

A government source stated Sunday that, following their first meeting at the Asian Regional Forum in Bangkok July 26, the two ministers will have their second round of talks in New York September 18 to discuss cooperation in the international diplomatic arena.

The two ministers are expected to discuss more concrete collaborative measures such as the submission of a proposal for the chairman`s statement supporting the June 15th North-South Joint Declaration and the establishment of new dialogue channels.

The inter-Korean meeting will be the first at the U.N. in 9 years. Then Foreign minister Lee Sang-Ok and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the (North Korean) Supreme People¡¯s Assembly Kim Yong-Nam met there in September 1991, when the two Koreas first joined the international body.

Moon Chul fullmoon@donga.com