N.Korean diplomat expected to meet former US officials in Finland

A senior North Korean diplomat left for Finland on Sunday for talks with former US and South Korean officials, Yonhap News Agency reported, amid a series of diplomatic encounters ahead of a possible US-North Korean summit.

North Korea is pursuing its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

It defends the programs as a necessary deterrent against perceived plans by the US, which stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War, for invasion. The US denies such plans.

Tensions have eased in recent weeks, coinciding with North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics held in the South last month.

Choe Kang-il, a deputy director general for North American affairs at North Korea’s foreign ministry, plans to attend the “track 1.5 talks”, according to Yonhap, reflecting planned contact between former US officials and current North Korean ones in a broader bid to end the standoff over North Korea’s weapons programs.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement North Korea would participate in the meeting joined by former South Korean officials and academics but did not provide further details.

The talks in Finland will add to a flurry of diplomatic activity in face of the proposed North Korean summits with South Korea and the US, respectively, in April and May.

Arriving at a Beijing airport en route to Finland, Choe declined to comment.