Nth Korean, US officials prepare
SEOUL: South Korean President Moon Jaein said yesterday there could be more impromptu talks and summits with North Korean leader Kim Jongun as US officials prepared for a historic meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim.
Moon and Kim Jongun held a surprise meeting on Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed a North KoreaUS summit must be held.
‘‘What’s more important than anything from the latest inter
Korean summit was that the leaders easily got in contact, easily made an appointment and easily met to discuss urgent matters, without complicated procedures and formalities — just like a casual meeting,’’ Moon told a meeting with senior secretaries.
Last week, Trump pulled out of the meeting with Kim, planned for June 12 in Singapore, before announcing he had reconsidered and American and North Korean officials were meeting to work out details.
On Sunday, the US State Department said US and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom, a village in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that runs along the heavily armed border between North and South Korea.
A ‘‘preadvance’’ team of US officials was also travelling to Singapore to meet North Koreans there, the White House said.
A US official told Reuters Sung Kim, the former US ambassador to South Korea, led the American delegation to meet North Korean officials at the border.
‘‘It’s a good thing to have him on board,’’ said a former senior South Korean official who worked with Sung Kim in the past. ‘‘He’s capable, levelheaded, cautious, and has solid grasp of the issues and knows North Koreans well. But at the same time, he has healthy scepticism.’’
Pentagon official Randall Schriver was also part of the US team, the US official said. The Washington Post reported the team met North Korean viceforeign minister Choe Son Hui. The US delegation also included Allison Hooker, the Korea expert on the White House National Security Council.
After weeks of political posturing by both Trump and Kim, analysts welcomed the news the United States had dispatched a team of seasoned negotiators to hold several days of preparatory talks with the North Koreans.
‘‘Sending such an experienced and professional team signals that the Trump Administration is getting serious about the specifics of an agreement,’’ former US deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia, Abraham Denmark said.
However, he thought the talks were unlikely to reconcile the differing positions over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.
‘‘No matter how experienced and knowledgeable these officials are, they will not be able to change the fundamental challenge between the United States and North Korea over its status as a nuclear power.’’
In remarks on Sunday, Moon acknowledged Pyongyang and Washington might have differing expectations of what denuclearisation meant and he urged both sides to hold workinglevel talks to resolve their differences.
He said Saturday’s summit with Kim, which was organised on short notice after the North Korean leader requested a meeting, should be a model for increased contact between the leaders of the two Koreas.
‘‘If we could hold workinglevel, backtoback talks on both sides of Panmunjom if urgently necessary in addition to formal summits, it would expedite faster advancement of interKorean relations,’’ Moon told his aides. — Reuters