The United States and North Korea are expected to reopen denuclearisation talks soon and they will move forward with it, a senior South Korean official revealed on Thursday, awakening hopes for progress in negotiations after a prolonged delay.
South Korea’s deputy national security adviser, Kim Hyun-Chong, gave his conclusion after meeting U.S. envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun in Seoul.
“My impression was that North Korea and the United States would carry out dialogue soon, and it would go well,” Kim told media after the one-hour meeting.
Talks objected to the disarmament of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs that were put into a coma since a failed second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam in February.
Trump and Kim met again in June at the inter-Korean border and agreed to restart the working-level negotiations for the nuclear treaty.
Since their last meeting, North Korea has launched a series of short-range missiles 6 times in a row, threatening US-South Korea joint military drill and the adoption of new weapons.
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A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman on Thursday took issue with South Korea’s acquisition of American F-35 stealth fighter jets, saying it was not interested in dialogue that was “accompanied by military threats”.
Kim said that South Korea’s presidential National Security Council would summon a meeting later on Thursday to review an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, that South Korea had warned to scrap amid a rising diplomatic dispute and trade spat.
The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) could expire on Saturday if either side failed to roll over it.
According to Kim, Biegun raised the issue, which has worried Washington as the accord is instrumental in three-way efforts to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
“I’ve told him we’ll carefully examine it and make a decision in a way that serves our national interest,” Kim said.