Secretary of State Colin Powell will embark July 22 on a visit to five Asian nations that could include the first meeting of top U.S. and North Korean officials since the Bush administration took office in January.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Powell will arrive July 23 in Tokyo for a one-day stop before traveling to Hanoi for the two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Regional Forum.
There has been speculation in the South Korean media that while in Hanoi, Powell would meet with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun. Boucher did not comment specifically on the possibility of a meeting, but said that in Hanoi, Powell would “have an opportunity to meet with representatives of other countries from the region.”
If such a meeting occurs, it could help President Bush’s attempt to restart talks with North Korea. Bush said June 6 that the U.S. review of policy toward Pyongyang was finished, and he was ready to resume talks with the North.
Only one working level meeting has been held. That came in New York in mid-June, and focused on mapping an agenda for future meetings.
Since then, Pyongyang leaders have repeatedly castigated Washington for trying to set an agenda unilaterally. Bush said he wants to discuss the North’s nuclear and missile programs, review the 1994 nuclear agreement and discuss reductions in Pyongyang’s conventional military force.
The North has countered that the first item to be discussed is its demand that Washington pay compensation for delays in the project to provide Pyongyang with two nuclear power plants. Those delays led to a critical electrical shortage that has caused many factories to close and has left many rural areas without power.
Washington officials have rejected the compensation demand, however, and Pyongyang leaders have countered by saying none of the U.S. agenda proposals are acceptable. North Korea leaders also have said they will never discuss conventional arms reduction with the United States. That, they said, will be discussed between North Korea and South Korea after the withdrawal of all 37,000 U.S. troops from the South.
After the Hanoi meeting, Boucher said, Powell will visit Seoul on July 27 and Beijing on July 28.
He will join Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Canberra on July 29, and they will attend the annual Australian-U.S. Ministerial Consultations July 30.
Powell will leave Canberra on July 31 and will arrive back in Washington on Aug. 1, Boucher said.