한국과 미국, 일본의 6자회담 수석대표가 내주께 워싱턴에서 회동, 북한 정세와 북핵 문제 공조 방안을 논의할 것으로 알려졌다.

이는 지난달 25일 네덜란드 헤이그에서 열린 한미일 정상회담에서 3국 6자회담 수석대표 간 회담을 열기로 합의한 데 따른 것이다.

이와 관련, 외교부는 3일 우리측 6자회담 수석대표인 한반도평화교섭본부장에 황준국 한미 방위비분담협상 대사를 임명했다고 밝혔다.

정부 관계자는 “내주께 3국 6자회담 수석대표 간 회의가 있을 것”이라며 “최종 일정을 곧 발표할 예정”이라고 말했다.

각국 대표들은 회담에서 최근 북한이 4차 핵실험 실시 가능성을 언급하고 미사일 발사 등을 통해 긴장을 고조시키는 데 대한 각국의 의견을 교환하고 대처 방안을 논의할 것으로 전망된다.

이번 수석대표 회동은 지난해 11월 이후 5개월여만이다.

회담 개최지로 워싱턴이 결정된 것은 한일 간 과거사 문제와 관련한 갈등을 의식한 결과로 해석된다.

황 신임 본부장은 외무고시 16회로 유엔과장, 주유엔대표부 참사관, 북핵외교기획단장, 주미국대사관 공사 등을 역임했다. 2008년 북핵외교기획단장으로서 우리측 차석대표로 6자회담에 참석했다. 서울로 돌아온 후에는 방위비 분담 협상을 진행, 지난 1월에 협상을 타결지은 바 있다.



<관련 영문 기사>


Seoul, Washington, Tokyo to hold nuke envoys’ talks



The chief nuclear negotiators of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are expected to gather next week in Washington to discuss ways to boost their trilateral coordination in the face of North Korea’s increasing threats.

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday appointed Hwang Joon-kook, who led recent negotiations with Washington on sharing costs for the upkeep of U.S. troops, as special representative for Korean Peninsular peace and security affairs and chief delegate to the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the North.

“The meeting will take place next week, with the exact date to be announced shortly,” a ministry official told reporters on customary condition of anonymity.

The consultation would be a follow-up to a trilateral summit last week in The Hague on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit, during which the three countries’ leaders reaffirmed that the six-nation forum should ensure “substantive progress” in dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programs in a “complete, verifiable and irreversible” manner.

For Hwang, it would mark an opportunity to build rapport with his counterparts -- Glyn Davies, special representative for North Korea policy at the U.S. Department of State, and Junichi Ihara, director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Since he joined the ministry in 1982, Hwang has taken up key posts including director for U.N. affairs, director-general for North Korean nuclear affairs, minister at the embassy in Washington and special advisor to the minister.

Tension is escalating on the peninsula amid military exercises on both sides of the border and Pyongyang’s threats of a fourth nuclear test.

The two Koreas on Monday briefly traded fire across the Northern Limit Line after the North dropped about 100 artillery shells south of the de facto sea border during its live-fire drills. The South, which has been carrying out military exercises with the U.S. since late February, shortly fired back some 300 shots with its K-9 self-propelled howitzers.

The communist state said on Sunday it would not rule out a “new type of nuclear test” to further strengthen its nuclear deterrence in protest against the U.N. Security Council’s condemnation of its ballistic missile tests last week.



By Shin Hyon-hee

(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)