N.K. May Accept Multilateral Meeting

If the trilateral meeting between North Korea, the U.S. and China is renewed, North Korea seems to be willing to accept a multilateral meeting including South Korea and Japan, reported Japan`s Asahi Shinbun on June 13 in Washington.

North Korean representative to the UN, Han Sung-ryul, said in an interview with the paper on June 12 that North Korea would not concede to having the multilateral meeting unless a bilateral summit with the U.S. was held in advance.

This remark seems to repeat North Korea`s intentions not to have the multilateral meeting, but the paper said that the rogue state implied that it might accept the multilateral meeting if its summit with the U.S. is renewed.

North Korea has been referring the trilateral meeting held between the U.S., China, and itself as a bilateral meeting between the U.S. and the communist state.

Chinese Premier Fu Jin Tao said to President George W. Bush at the summit between China and the U.S. on June 1 that North Korea would agree to have a multilateral meeting if contact between the U.S. was renewed.

China has reiterated that it hopes to have a follow-up meeting with North Korea to solve the nuclear issue while it is opposed to the idea of an economic blockade.

The Chinese foreign policy representative said at its regular briefing session on June 12 that the previous meeting in Beijing was successful, and was a good start to resolve the nuclear issue in a peaceful way. China posits that the two countries will continue to make efforts to reach a consensus by having meetings in the future.

For the news that the U.S., Japan and Australia are considering sea blockade measures against North Korea, he said, “Given the fully complicated situation on the Korean Peninsula, I hope that other nations would not further complicate the situation.”

Yoo-Sung Hwang Hun-Joo Cho yshwang@donga.com hanscho@donga.com