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| Top N. Korean nuclear negotiator set to visit U.S. in March | |
| 2010-02-12 | |
| BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's top nuclear negotiator is expected to visit the United States next month on a trip that could signal the resumption of stalled six-way talks on the communist state's denuclearization, a diplomatic source here said Friday. Kim Kye-gwan, also North Korea's vice foreign minister, has been in Beijing since Tuesday for discussions on ways to resume the nuclear talks with China's former vice foreign minister Wu Dawei, who was named this week as the special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs. "I believe the dates for Kim's trip to the United States have already been set," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The six-way talks involve both South and North Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. They were last held in December 2008. North Korea said late last year that it may return to the nuclear negotiations following bilateral talks with the United States, which were held in Pyongyang in December. Pyongyang is now demanding the removal of U.N. sanctions imposed shortly after its missile tests and second nuclear detonation test last year.
Observers, however, believe the trip could prove fruitless if the North continues to stick to its demands, which also include the start of discussions to replace the 1953 armistice with a peace treaty to officially end the Korean War, which Pyongyang claims is the main source of what it calls U.S. hostilities toward it. Both South Korea and the U.S. have dismissed the North's demands, saying such issues can be discussed only after the North returns to the six-party nuclear talks and makes significant progress toward denuclearization. The North Korean diplomat on Thursday said he and Wu had important talks on issues related to signing a peace treaty on the Korean Peninsula and the resumption of the nuclear negotiations. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |