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.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
RSS