S. Korean foreign minister likely to meet Pompeo in New York

SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is expected to hold bilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other foreign counterparts in New York next week on the sidelines of a U.N. session, a ministry official said Friday.

Kang is scheduled to accompany President Moon Jae-in for the 73rd Session of the U.N. General Assembly. Moon will leave for New York on Sunday and return home four days later.

The minister, however, plans to stay there for a few more days, according to the official.

She's pushing for bilateral meetings with some of her counterparts, including Pompeo, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.

Such talks will be a chance to brief them on the results of the inter-Korean summit held in Pyongyang earlier this week.

Kang also plans to join a special forum of the U.N. Security Council on the denuclearization of North Korea that will be chaired by Pompeo on Thursday.

Also drawing attention is whether Kang will meet separately with the North's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho in New York.

She proposed a bilateral meeting with him when they attended the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore in August, but Ri rejected the offer, saying it was not the right time.

lcd@yna.co.kr
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