US eyes liaison office in NK
▶ Important step to building diplomatic ties: experts
A US proposal to set up a liaison office in North Korea is a good way to ease tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, and possibly an important step towards building a diplomatic relationship, Chinese experts said.
The proposal comes as US President Donald Trump prepares to meet later this month in Hanoi, Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim JongUn. The plan would allow North Korea to also open an office in the US, an official from the Trump administration was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying on Monday.
However, the source said it wasn’t immediately clear how strongly North Korea supports the idea.
Exchanging liaison offices is beneficial to deepening information exchanges between the US and North Korea, Da Zhigang, director and research fellow at the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies of the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
It could also be the first step for the two countries to have diplomatic relations, he said.
The US proposal did not come as a surprise, as similar ideas have been discussed by the two sides, Yang Xiyu, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times.
When the Clinton administration worked out an accord in 1994 that required North Korea to freeze, and ultimately dismantle, its plutonium production capabilities, the two sides also discussed setting up liaison offices, the Wall Street Journal reported, noting that the deal fell apart.
Faced with domestic and international pressure, the two sides are also eager to reach a significant deal at the forthcoming summit, Da said.
Both experts said if true, exchanging liaison offices would be a significant achievement for Trump and Kim’s meeting later this month.
However, they also said this summit will see limited results because the two sides still have huge differences on many issues, such as denuclearization.
The Hanoi Times reported on February 14 that all luxury hotels in Hanoi were booked ahead of the TrumpKim summit.
Four luxury hotels, namely Sofitel Legend Metropole, JW Marriott, Sheraton and Daewoo, where US presidents stayed, said they were fully booked days ago.
No information on the summit venue and hotels where the two leaders would stay has been disclosed.
When the Global Times reporter went to check on room availability from February 26 to March 1 at JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi, deluxe and executive suites showed “not available on your date” on booking.com.
Before China and the US established diplomatic relations in 1979, the two sides agreed to exchange liaison offices after then US President Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972.