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.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
RSS