Senior N Korean diplomat says open to US dialogue

>> BEIJING: North Korea does not rule out dialogue with the United States and South Korea, a senior diplomat suggested yesterday, while mixed messages are emanating from those three countries on future approaches to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

“If conditions are met, we will hold dialogue [with Washington],” Choe Sonhui, head of its foreign ministry’s North America bureau, told reporters in Beijing before heading back to Pyongyang, following recent informal discussions with US experts in Norway.

On North Korea’s possible stance toward South Korea’s new government of President Moon Jae-in, who upon taking office on Wednesday said he is open to visiting North Korea under the right conditions, Ms Choe said: “We have to wait and see.”

A North Korea delegation led by Ms Choe met with a group of US experts on security affairs on Monday and Tuesday in Oslo.

The experts included Thomas Pickering, former US undersecretary of state for political affairs and ambassador to the United Nations, and Suzanne DiMaggio, a director and senior fellow of the US think tank New America.

Ahead of her departure to Pyongyang from Beijing Capital International Airport, Ms Choe also disclosed they did not address the fate of four US citizens detained in North Korea during the two-day meeting.

US President Donald Trump’s administration said late last month that its basic approach toward North Korea is to pressure it into dismantling its nuclear programme by “tightening economic sanctions and pursuing diplomatic measures with our allies and regional partners”.

US officials have said the meeting between Ms Choe and the experts had nothing to do with Washington.

But it is almost certain that for Ms Choe, who has long been involved in nuclear negotiations, the latest trip was to learn more about Mr Trump’s administration and its possible next steps toward North Korea, which has never had diplomatic ties with Washington.

Diplomatic sources said this month that the administration had already informed China of Mr Trump’s readiness to welcome North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a meeting in the US, if Pyongyang abandons its nuclear and missile programmes.

The idea was part of a set of proposals the US put out during recent discussions with Chinese officials on how best to deal with North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes. US officials have said all options, including a military strike, are on the table in trying to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. But they have said at the same time that the door for dialogue is open.

The mixed signals from Washington have became move obvious after Mr Kim’s regime did not conduct another nuclear test on either of two important North Korean anniversaries in April, as had been widely expected.

The US administration had also already told China, North Korea’s most important political and economic backer, it would not resort to military action and would give a security guarantee for Mr Kim’s regime if the arms programmes were scrapped, according to the sources.

While indicating its willingness to reach out to the US, North Korea has not changed its stance on advancing nuclear arms development.