By Reuben Staines
Staff Reporter

Delegates from five of the six nations involved in the North Korean nuclear talks will meet in New York next week for unofficial discussions on ways to resolve the protracted standoff.

It will be the first time representatives of the countries have met since the third round of six-party talks closed inclusively in June.

``This can be a good chance for them to meet together to discuss the matter,’’ a senior official at the foreign ministry in Seoul said on condition of anonymity. ``But they will not engage in serious discussions because they have another formal channel for talks,’’ he said, referring to the full six-party talks scheduled to reconvene in Beijing before the end of September.

Gathering on the sidelines of an international conference organized by the nongovernmental National Committee on American Foreign Policy, high-level officials from the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and China are expected to seek agreement over a framework for future talks. The meeting is likely to occur on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Participants are to include Ri Gun, deputy director-general of American affairs at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry; Joseph DeTrani, U.S. special envoy to North Korea; and Han Seung-joo, South Korea’s ambassador to Washington. Akitaki Saiki, a top Foreign Ministry official, is tipped to be Japan’s delegate while China will reportedly send a similarly high-level official.

The unofficial discussions come at a crucial juncture in negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear programs as frequent consultations between participating nations have failed to find a way out of the nuclear crisis.

Pyongyang last week threatened to postpone further negotiations over the nuclear issue after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill addressing human rights problems in the North.

North Korea is also upset with Seoul over the arrival of more than 450 defectors in the South last week, pulling out of high-level inter-Korean talks scheduled for Tuesday.

China is seeking to maintain the schedule for working group meetings in Beijing next month to prepare for the fourth round of talks.

Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official on Tuesday ruled out providing energy assistance to North Korea.

China had requested U.S. participation in an energy aid package for Pyongyang but Washington is not considering the proposal, reports quoted the unnamed official as saying.

He added that the U.S. is waiting for a substantive response from the North to the denuclearization proposal it made at June’s six-way talks.

The U.S. proposal gave Pyongyang three months to shut down and seal its nuclear weapons facilities in return for economic and diplomatic rewards and a security guarantee.

rjs@koreatimes.co.kr