US academics and former senior government officials yesterday met with North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator in Singapore to get a feel for each other’s positions amid a lingering standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons buildup.
Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council, a US-based nonprofit, told reporters that the meeting would cover Pyongyang’s nuclear missile programs.
He described it as “two ways of taking each other’s temperature.”
Photo: EPA
The US and North Korea have no formal diplomatic ties, but former US officials occasionally meet Pyongyang’s diplomats in a bid to settle the impasse over North Korea’s claimed pursuit of a long-range nuclear-armed missile that could hit the contiguous US.
North Korea’s team was led by Ri Yong-ho, the chief negotiator for six-party denuclearization talks.
North Korea has indicated its willingness to rejoin the long-stalled talks, but has balked at US demands that it first take concrete steps to show that it remains committed to the denuclearization goal.
Earlier this month, North Korea told the US that it was willing to impose a temporary moratorium on its nuclear tests if Washington scraps planned military drills with South Korea this year. Washington called the linking of the military drills with a possible nuclear test “an implicit threat,” but said that it was open to dialogue with the North.
Pyongyang is thought to have a handful of crude nuclear bombs and has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006. However, experts are divided on how far Pyongyang has come in the technology needed to miniaturize a warhead.
Asked whether they would also discuss alleged cyberattacks linked to the comedy film The Interview, Sigal said: “I don’t think we will get into that very much.”
The US blames Pyongyang for alleged cyberattacks on Sony Entertainment, which released the movie about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Others taking part in the Singapore talks, which are to end today, include former US special representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth and former deputy nuclear negotiator Joseph DeTrani.
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