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6-way negotiators may meet in Tokyo on forum sidelines+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, April 8_(Kyodo) _ Chief negotiators to the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programs appear set to gather in Tokyo early next week, as delegates started arriving in Japan, some of them to attend a security conference from Sunday. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, the country's chief delegate, arrived Friday at Narita airport near Tokyo and told reporters, "We would not reject a request by the United States for bilateral talks." He was referring to possible talks with his U.S. counterpart in the nuclear talks, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, who will visit Japan from Monday for the 17th Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue, sponsored by the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. A U.S. State Department spokesman earlier said there are no plans for Hill to meet with Kim in Tokyo, although he stopped short of ruling out the possibility. But with South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chun Young Woo scheduled to attend the forum, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei planning a trip to Japan around that time and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev suggesting he may extend his stay in Japan until next week, the stage seems set for the six chief delegates to have some kind of contact. If a meeting takes place, it would be the first gathering of the delegates from the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia since the six-party talks were last held in Beijing in November. China has hosted the nuclear talks that began in August 2003. Although no concrete plans have been finalized for the gathering, speculations are rife that there may at least be bilateral contacts, including between the United States and North Korea, which could help pave the way to resuming the stalled nuclear talks. "North Korea may want to use this as a catalyst" to move forward the stalled negotiations, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said about North Korea's latest move to send its officials to Tokyo for the conference. Ministry officials stressed that the delegates participating in the conference will be taking part in their individual capacity. But political pundits believe that Japan is hoping to make something out of the possible gathering of the delegates from all six-party countries, given that Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic ties and Tokyo rarely grants North Korean officials entry to the country. The nuclear talks have been deadlocked since North Korea refused to return to the negotiating table unless the United States lifts financial sanctions it imposed on entities suspected of money laundering and counterfeiting for North Korea. Washington has stressed that the sanctions are law enforcement matters unrelated to the talks and urged the North to return to the table. On Thursday, Alexeyev met with Kenichiro Sasae, Japan's chief negotiator and director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and agreed that North Korea must unconditionally return to the six-party talks and that they will work toward resuming the negotiations at an early date, according to Japanese officials. |