Rice to meet North Korean minister in Singapore

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet North Korea's foreign minister next week at an informal gathering of the six countries working to end Pyongyang's nuclear arms program, the State Department said on Friday. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the gathering on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore would be Rice's first meeting with the North Korean. "She will attend the informal meeting," he said. Rice will not hold bilateral talks, he added. The gathering of ministers of the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States would not involve negotiations or produce any kind of statements but would "review where the six-party process is," McCormack added. The United States views such meetings as "useful for the diplomacy," McCormack said. Last month, North... [read full story]