SEJONG, June 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will have a meeting with Myanmar this week to discuss ways to expand bilateral economic cooperation, the finance ministry said Tuesday. A delegation of policymakers led by Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok will leave for the Southeast Asian country on Tuesday for the economic cooperation joint committee meeting to be held the following day, according to the ministry. The meeting, the first of its kind between the two countries, is expected to serve as a "control tower" for coordinating bilateral economic cooperation.

By Lee Chi-dong WASHINGTON, June 17 (Yonhap) -- The United States sees no difference between North Korea's latest offer of bilateral talks and its previous ones because a serious intent is apparently lacking about denuclearization, the State Department said Monday. It emphasized that the international community has been very consistent and clear that Pyongyang should verifiably end its nuclear program and engage in "authentic and credible negotiations that produce concrete denuclearizataion actions."

SEOUL, June 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye told U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday that holding talks with North Korea for the sake of talks would only give the communist nation more time to advance its nuclear programs, an official said. Park made the remark during a 20-minute phone conversation with Obama, the official said, a day after North Korea proposed to hold high-level talks with the U.S. saying it wants to have broad and in-depth discussions on defusing military tensions and other issues.

BEIJING, June 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's chief nuclear envoy will visit Beijing this week for talks with senior Chinese officials, China's foreign ministry said Monday, a day after Pyongyang proposed high-level talks with Washington aimed at easing tensions and denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. The North's veteran nuclear negotiator and first vice foreign minister, Kim Kye-gwan, plans to meet with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui in Beijing on Wednesday for a "strategic dialogue," China's foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters.