Actors Forest Whitaker, left, Jennifer Hudson, Helen Mirren and Alan Arkin pose backstage with their Oscars during the 79th Academy Awards Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007, in Los Angeles. Whitaker and Mirren won for best actor and Hudson and Arkin won for best supporting actor. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)


Warm Diplomatic Wave in Northeast Asia

The six-party countries that successfully drew up the February 13 Joint Statement on the North Korean nuclear program are likely to begin their respective diplomatic meetings from March. Since the successful third session of the Fifth Round of the Six-Party Talks was held in Beijing, they have already embarked on self-analyses over the contents and fruit of the talks. Through the scheduled diplomatic sessions in March, denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is expected to be implemented and the end of cold war policy in the northeast region.

A first warm diplomatic wave in this region is the inter-Korean ministerial-level meeting to be held on Feb. 28. Seoul’s delegation, led by Unification Minister Lee Jae-jeong, will arrive at Pyongyang Airport on Feb. 28 and join the welcoming party hosted by the North. A source says that Minister Lee is supposed to urge the North to make a forward-looking policy concerning its nuclear program.

A spotlighted issue around the global diplomatic arena is the visit of North Korean top nuclear envoy Kim Gye-gwan to the US in early March. During his visit, it is expected that bilateral working-level groups between the US and the North will be held to normalize relations between the two countries.

Diplomatic sources said Kim would visit San Francisco for a lecture at Stanford University over the topic of nuclear issues and bilateral relationships, and then head to New York for a meeting with the Korean Society, which includes pro-Korean celebrities. He will also meet his US counterpart, Christopher Hill, to negotiate agenda items for working-level groups to deal with.

Another diplomatic spotlight around the international community is the North Korean invitation to Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to Pyongyang. It is unprecedented that North Korea has invited him to visit Pyongyang prior to IAEA inspectors so as to discuss the details of dismantling its nuclear program. Sources say that his visit marks one of the first steps in implementing the Feb. 13 Agreement.
/ 입력시간: 2007. 02.27. 08:54