The U.S. State Department says there is no plan for a bilateral meeting, but there is speculation that the two may yet decide to meet separately, perhaps simply stepping into another room, to discuss the phase-three denuclearization process and improvement of the bilateral relations.

North Korean and U.S. officials have had such inconspicuous bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the six-party talks.

Pak is not a very influential foreign policy maker, but he could carry an invitation for Rice from his leader Kim Jong-il. Rice in turn may carry a personal letter or special message from U.S. President George W. Bush.

A source in Washington said one topic the two might discuss could be Rice’s idea of expanding the six-party talks into a Northeast Asia security forum.

The U.S. and North Korean chief diplomats have met on the sidelines of previous ASEAN forums, notably right after the inter-Korean summit in 2000, when then secretary of state Madeleine Albright met with her counterpart Paik Nam-soon in Bangkok.

Afterwards, Cho Myong-rok, the first vice chairman of North Korea's National Defense Commission, visited Washington and Albright Pyongyang.

In the Bush administration’s time, ex-secretary of state Colin Powell met Paik Nam-soon at the ASEAN conferences in 2002 and 2004, making it look as if they had met casually to avoid protests from U.S. hardliners.

Diplomatic sources in Washington expect North Korea to be keen to improve ties with the U.S. after the fatal shooting of a South Korean tourist at Mt. Kumgang strained inter-Korean relations further.

But the North is reportedly cool about a bilateral foreign ministers meeting with Japan, which refused to give economic aid at the six-party talks.

(englishnews@chosun.com )