| Press Statement Richard Boucher, Spokesman Washington, DC July 2, 2002 Status of Political Dialogue with North KoreaOn June 14, we asked the North Korean Mission at the United Nations if there were any dates that might be inconvenient for a U.S. delegation to visit North Korea and were told simply to propose a date. Last Tuesday, June 25, we informed North Korea's UN Mission that a U.S. delegation would be prepared to enter North Korea on July 10 to begin the process of expressing U.S. concerns and explaining U.S. policy toward North Korea. We reconfirmed this in a New York meeting on June 27. We asked for a timely response in order to make the necessary logistical arrangements given an American holiday. Last night we informed the North Korean Mission to the UN that we could no longer plan on a July 10 trip since we had not received a timely response from Pyongyang. We also informed the North Koreans that the violent naval conflict in the Yellow Sea had created an unacceptable atmosphere in which to conduct the talks. |
 | |||
|
