Talks Back On: North Korea and US to Resume Denuclearization Efforts

An eight-month stalemate on talks about North Korea’s denuclearization finally to be broken, sooner than expected, after Trump said “it could happen soon” at UN General Assembly.

In February, President Trump and Kim Jong Un had their second summit in Vietnam, where no deal was made, Kim’s conditions being sanction relief in exchange for partial disarmament. The talks ended up nowhere for eight months after, however, recent short-range missile tests in North Korea have possibly sparked the light for more talks on the matter.

Earlier in September, President Trump expressed concern over a sense of urgency in Seoul and elsewhere, and with recent events such as former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s dismissal, for which the North praised President Trump, it seems both events have influenced the decision for a new meeting with Kim Jong Un to discuss disarmament.

A statement by North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui reports that preliminary contact will be made on Friday and working-level talks will come Saturday.

“The delegates of the DPRK side are ready to enter into the DPRK-U.S. working-level negotations,” Choe said, using North Korea’s official name – the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

“It is my expectation that the working-level negotiations would accelerate the positive development of the DPRK-U.S. relations,” he added.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had previously said in September that all preparations for a U.S.-North Korea meeting on the matter were in place. The chief nuclear negotiator for the North, Kim Myong Gil, however, warned that the “right calculation method at the upcoming talks,” is something that Washington has to offer.