FM calls for inter-Korean dialogue during brief encounter with North's envoy at ASEAN meetings

▲ South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (R) meets An Kwang-il, North Korea's top delegate to the ASEAN Regional Forum, during a welcome dinner in Phnom Penh on Aug. 4, 2022, in this photo provided by the foreign ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Koreas-ASEAN talks

FM calls for inter-Korean dialogue during brief encounter with North's envoy at ASEAN meetings

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin has called for an unconditional dialogue between the two Koreas during his brief exchange with a North Korean envoy participating in the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh, Seoul officials said.

During a welcome dinner on Thursday, Park greeted An Kwang-il, the North's ambassador to Indonesia and top delegate to the regional security forum.

During their conversation, Park said that inter-Korean talks without conditions were needed and expressed hopes for denuclearization for peace and security on the Korean Peninsula, and An replied that conditions should be created, a foreign ministry official said.

An, who doubles as the North's point man on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, attended the conference instead of Pyongyang's top diplomat Choe Son-hui.

Inter-Korean ties have been stalled amid a prolonged deadlock in nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang since the no-deal Hanoi summit between their leaders in 2019.

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