Rice to meet NKorean counterpart on margin of ASEAN forum (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet her North Korean counterpart for the first time on the sidelines of next week's ASEAN Regional Forum, a State Department spokesman said Friday. Rice is expected to meet North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun in an informal meeting of the top diplomats of the six countries negotiating Pyongyang's denuclearization program, spokesman Sean McCormack said. Rice had no plans for a bilateral meeting with Pak, but will see him in the meeting with her counterparts from South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, the other four states involved in the six-party talks, McCormack said. "It's really a meeting to review where the six-party process is at the moment," the spokesman added. "All the ministers are going to be in Singapore. Why not have an informal gathering?" he... [read full story]