Powell, N. Korean Diplomat Meet

'Useful' Discussion Held on Nuclear Dismantlement Proposals

JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 2 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell held talks Friday morning with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, the highest-level meeting between the U.S. and North Korea since the crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions erupted 20 months ago.

The 20-minute conversation, held in a room on the sidelines of a regional security conference here, occurred one week after the administration advanced a more detailed proposal for ending the impasse at six-nation talks held in Beijing.

Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry has strongly criticized the administration's handling of the North Korean situation, especially the refusal to engage in direct talks with Pyongyang. Kerry has argued that the administration, by avoiding direct negotiations, has wasted precious time while allowing North Korea to dramatically increase its nuclear arsenal.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Powell "emphasized the administration's proposals to move forward on dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear programs," and that "there was an opportunity for concrete progress."

Boucher said the "discussion was useful to help clarify each side's proposals."

North Korea, which normally does not quickly comment on such meetings, issued its own statement that quoted Paek as saying, "If the United States is of the position to improve the bilateral relations, [North Korea] also will not regard the U.S. as a permanent enemy." Paek said "simultaneous actions" were needed to resolve the crisis in a situation "in which there is no trust" between North Korea and the United States.

Under the U.S. proposal offered in Beijing, U.S. allies such as South Korea could provide immediate energy assistance while North Korea would have three months to reveal its programs and have its claims verified by U.S. intelligence. Then, the United States would participate in written security assurances and participate in a process that might ultimately result in direct U.S. aid. After the Bush administration offered its proposal last week, North Korea countered with a request for immediate assistance from the United States once it freezes its programs.

On Thursday, Powell reiterated the United States would not provide any assistance to the insular communist state until after "it is absolutely clear" that North Korea "is taking irreversible steps" that will lead to the dismantling of its nuclear programs. "We have to see deeds before we are prepared to put something on the table," Powell said at a news conference.

Friday's meeting, which took place at 8:15 a.m., was not on Powell's official schedule, but the Pyongyang government, which wants direct negotiations with the United States, had said it would welcome such a contact.

Powell had coffee with Paek for five minutes at this regional forum two years ago, just days after the Bush administration concluded that North Korea was violating a 1994 agreement to freeze its nuclear programs by creating a clandestine effort to produce highly enriched uranium. The administration confronted North Korean officials in October 2002, and said the North Koreans admitted to the uranium program, which led to a breakdown of the 1994 deal and North Korean's decision to restart a shuttered nuclear reactor. North Korea has since denied it has a uranium enrichment program, and three rounds of six-nation talks have proven inconclusive.