NORTH KOREA: President Bush's special envoy to Korea held a second day of landmark talks with North Korean officials yesterday amid hopes of a new phase in US relations with the Stalinist regime.
Following a relaxed session on Thursday in the capital, Pyongyang, which included dinner with North Korean foreign ministry officials, Mr James Kelly's negotiations yesterday were scheduled to touch on the core issues of US-North Korean ties, according to South Korean officials.
In a sign that talks may be progressing, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs made a courtesy call on Mr Kim Yong-Nam, the titular head of the Stalinist state who is second in rank to leader Mr Kim Jong Il. A former foreign minister, Mr Kim Yong-Nam, heads the standing committee of the Supreme People's Assembly and is number two in the ruling politburo. The meeting was reported by North Korea's Central News Agency which otherwise was silent on the first high-level US visit here in two years.
Mr Kelly met Mr Kim Gye-Gwan, one of several vice foreign ministers in Pyongyang, on Thursday and would likely see the more senior First Vice Foreign Minister, Mr Kang Sok-Ju, yesterday, according to a South Korean foreign ministry official.
The US delegation is holding three days of talks with the North Korean regime, the first high-level dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington in North Korea since the United States severed contact nearly two years ago.
Mr Kelly's mission is being billed as a chance to lay out the US negotiating position and to gauge whether Pyongyang is serious about discussing a long list of US grievances.
On taking office early last year, President Bush adopted a hard-line policy towards North Korea, which he included in his "axis of evil" along with Iran and Iraq.
The delegation appears unlikely to table any new proposals in Pyongyang, but to stress a US agenda which targets its missile sales, nuclear programme, vast conventional forces, human rights performance and possible terrorist links.
North Korea's official media meanwhile has used the visit for a sabre-rattling call for continued military build-up. The Rodong Sinmum said it would "further strengthen the revolutionary armed forces to prevent any formidable enemies from recklessly attacking it".
Mr Kelly is scheduled to return to Seoul, South Korea, today. - (AFP)