hankyoreh

The United States said Wednesday that it will hold a meeting next week with North Korea to discuss a series of steps toward normalizing the bilateral ties.

The U.S. chief nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill, will meet his negotiating counterpart, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, on March 5-6 in New York, said Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the State Department.

"This meeting on March 5-6 is the first step in addressing a variety of issues between North Korea and the United States," McCormack said.

The bilateral meeting is a follow-up to the Feb. 13 six-nation agreement in which North Korea agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor within 60 days in exchange for aid.

However, McCormack cautioned against high expectations for next week's meeting.

"Don't expect anybody to come out the front door on March 6 waving a piece of paper with breakthrough agreements," he said.

"That's just not the kind of meeting that this is going to be."

The State Department said next week's meetings will deal mainly with organizational matters, and that the main focus will be pursuing six-nation negotiations to achieve the full dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program.

North Korea's envoy to the talks is scheduled to stop Thursday in San Francisco for talks with nongovernmental organizations on his way to New York. He is to arrive in New York on Friday for internal consultations before his meetings with Hill, the State Department said.
Washington, Feb. 28 (Yonhap News)