“라이스, 싱가포르서 北외상 만날 예정”

콘돌리자 라이스 미 국무장관이 다음주 싱가포르에서 아세안지역안보포럼(ARF)을 계기로 열리는 비공식 북핵 6자 외교장관회담에서 박의춘 북한 외무상과 만날 예정이다.

라이스 장관이 박 외무상과 같은 북한의 고위급 인사와 만나는 것은 이번이 처음이다.

숀 매코맥 대변인은 18일 정례브리핑에서 "라이스 장관이 싱가포르에서 열리는 ARF에 참석한다"며 "ARF를 계기로 비공식 6자 장관급 회담이 열릴 것으로 기대하는데 회담 참가국에 북한도 포함될 것"이라며 이같이 밝혔다.

매코맥 대변인은 비공식 회담 참석 여부는 북한의 의사에 달려있지만 6자회담 당사국이 모두 비공식 회담에 참석할 것이라고 예상한다고 말했다.

매코맥 대변인은 이어 "라이스 장관이 박 외무상과 양자회담을 개최할 계획은 지금으로서는 없다"고 말했다.

하지만 그동안 라이스 장관이 싱가포르 방문시 북한과 접촉할 계획이 없다고 밝혀왔던 미국의 발표 등으로 미뤄 볼 때 이번에 북미 양자 외무장관 회담이 성사될 가능성이 없다고 배제할 수는 없는 상황이다.

이번 비공식회담은 남ㆍ북한과 중국, 일본, 러시아, 미국이 참여하지만 어떤 형태의 성명서를 발표하거나 구체적인 성과에 구애되지 않을 전망이다.

매코맥 대변인은 비공식 6자회담 개최 배경과 관련, "외교적으로 유용하기 때문"이라면서 "이번 모임은 구체적 협상 성과를 거두기 위한 것이 아니고 성명서나 그런 것은 없겠지만 장관들에게 6자 수석대표 회담의 성과를 평가할 수 있는 좋은 계기가 될 것"이라고 말했다.

매코맥 대변인은 이번 비공식 모임에서 라이스 장관이 모든 다른 나라 대표들과 마찬가지로 박 외무상과 대화를 하면서 그들 사이에서 6자 회담에 대한 평가를 주고받게 될 것이라고 기대한다고 말했다.

매코맥 대변인은 또 북한에 대한 메시지가 무엇이냐는 질문에는 "우리의 메시지는 6자회담을 진전시켜 나가자는 것"이라면서 "2단계가 끝나면 3단계로 넘어가게 되고 3단계는 한반도 비핵화로 마무리 되는데 그 과정에서 중간단계는 없다"며 미국은북한의 완전한 비핵화를 추구하고 있음을 거듭 확인했다.

이와 함께 매코맥 대변인은 북한의 핵신고서 제출에 이은 미국의 북한 테러지원국 해제와 관련, "이 과정은 행동과 행동의 원칙에 기초해 올바른 방향으로 가고 있다"고 언급했다.

역내 주요 안보이슈를 다루는 ARF는 북한이 유일하게 참여하고 있는 다자안보협의체로, 6자회담 참가국들이 모두 회원국이다. 매년 6자 외교장관회의 개최 여부가 주목됐었지만 그동안 번번이 성사되지 못했다.

지난 2002년과 2004년에 열린 ARF에서 당시 백남순 외무상과 콜린 파월 외무장관이 두 차례 걸쳐 북미 양자 외교장관 회담을 개최한 바 있다.

(워싱턴=연합뉴스)

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다음은 미국국무부 홈페이지  http://www.state.gov 에 있는

  Sean McCormack (Spokesman )의  Daily Press Briefing 

(Washington, DC July 18, 2008)에서 앞의 기사와 관련이 있는 부분들입니다.

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QUESTION: The South Koreans’ Yonhap News Agency is reporting that there will most likely be Six-Party ministerial talks on the sidelines of the Singapore ASEAN Regional Forum early next week. Do you – have you confirmed – do you have any –

MR. MCCORMACK: I would say –

QUESTION: Does the Secretary have a plan to meet those ministers?

MR. MCCORMACK: The way I would refer to it is – well, first of all, she is going to be at the Asia Regional Forum in Singapore. That’s the reason why she is traveling to Singapore. On the sidelines of that meeting, I would expect that there would be an informal ministerial-level meeting of the Six-Party ministers. Again, this is not going to be a meeting that produces specific outcomes. Don’t look for an outcome document or any such thing, or any negotiation outcome. It’s really a meeting to review where the Six-Party process is at the moment.

QUESTION: Will there be a bilateral component to that, be it with the U.S. or DPRK?

MR. MCCORMACK: I wouldn't expect – there is not, at this point, any bilateral component to it. It is an informal gathering of the Six-Party ministers who will all happen to be at the Asia Regional Forum at the same time. 

QUESTION: Just to be clear, that would include the North Koreans?

MR. MCCORMACK: I would expect it will. Again, I think that is – that’s the idea, and that’s the invitation. Obviously, it’s up to North Korea whether or not it would choose to attend the informal meeting.

QUESTION: Can you tell us why you’ve agreed to do something like this now, or the timing of it?

MR. MCCORMACK: We think it’s useful. We think it’s useful to the diplomacy. There’s – Chris Hill had a good meeting at the head-of-delegation meeting in Beijing just a week or so ago. They agreed on the verification principles to move forward. That’s a positive step. There’s still detailed work to do, and that is going to take place in the verification sub-working group that the Chinese are going to lead. We participate in it. But again, it moves the process forward in terms of verification. 

And then there are still other obligations under phase two that need to be fulfilled, but we are – the process is moving in the right direction based on action-for-action. That’s the principle at work here. And we thought it was useful, as well as the Chinese, as the chair of the Six-Party Talks, we thought it was useful. All the ministers are going to be in Singapore, and why not have an informal gathering? Again, it’s not to produce some specific negotiated outcome. There will not be an outcome document or any such thing. But it is a good opportunity for the ministers to be able to assess the work of their heads of delegations through the Six-Party Talks.

QUESTION: And what is an informal meeting? What are they going to be talking about? What’s the difference between that and a formal meeting?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, a formal, you know – well, you know, some of it is the – is really the form of it and the expectations for it. You know, a formal meeting, you have the agenda, here are the items that are going to be discussed, you expect that there are going to be specific outcomes based upon those agenda items. There’s a lot of preparation work that goes into producing some specific outcome, either a statement or some negotiation breakthrough. That’s not what this meeting is intended to do.

Yes. Gollust.

QUESTION: What sort of interaction do you expect Secretary Rice to have with her North Korean counterpart? I mean, will she be willing to speak with him, talk with him substantively about the issue? Because I don’t thinks she’s ever met a North Korean foreign minister.

MR. MCCORMACK: That – I think that’s correct. Yeah. Look, of course, she will be, as will all the ministers. I would expect that there would be an exchange among the ministers, you know, offering their assessments. You know, I can’t speak to exactly what the interaction and interplay might be between – among all the different ministers or between specific ministers. We’ll let you know as best we can. But I would expect that they’re all going to be there.

Yeah. Anything else on this? Yeah, Kirit.

QUESTION: Have you decided what your message to the North Koreans will be when you meet with them?

MR. MCCORMACK: You know, our message will be: Let’s move this process forward on the Six-Party Talks. We have made progress up and to this point. All the parties – North Korea has made progress on fulfilling its commitments. We are doing so ourselves, as are the other parties in the Six-Party Talks. 

And once we complete phase two, we’re going to be moving to a crucial phase, phase three. And that phase ends with the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. There are no interim steps. That’s what that – that’s what the next phase is intended to do, and that means North Korea being completely out of the nuclear business there, in terms of facilities and materials. And that’s a big step. And certainly, we are prepared, as a member of the Six-Party Talks, to take that step along with the other members. But again, it’s going to be action for action. And that will be her message, and I guess to review where we have been in terms of the Six-Party Talks.