White House Report, May 19: North Korea
19 May 2005
U.S. and North Korean officials meet on Six-Party Talks
The White House confirmed May 19 that U.S. and North Korean officials had "working-level" contacts May 13 in New York City.
"As in the past, this channel has been used to convey U.S. policy messages to North Korea, not to negotiate, and that was the motivation and the use of this channel this time," White House Deputy Press Secretary Trent Duffy told reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to Milwaukee.
"The channel was used to reiterate the message that the North Koreans need to return to the Six-Party Talks without conditions, so we can pursue a policy of a nuclear-fee Korean Peninsula," Duffy said.
The spokesman noted that the last such contacts between U.S. and North Korean officials took place in December 2004.
"The President has been delivering this message publicly and directly in the recent weeks and days, and the decision was made to use this channel to communicate directly with North Korean officials," the spokesman said.
The Six-Party Talks have been stalled since completion of the third round of talks in June 2004, when Pyongyang refused to continue participation. The other nations involved in the Six-Party Talks are China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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