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The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) or North Korea said on September 9 it is willing to restart nuclear talks with the United States in late September.
Within hours of the announcement, North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles east from its South Pyongan province, Reuters quoted South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff as saying.
The launches followed repeated short-range missile tests by North Korea since its leader Kim Jong Un agreed in a June 30 meeting with US President Donald Trump to reopen working-level talks stalled since their failed February summit in Hanoi. The talks have yet to resume despite repeated US appeals.
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement carried by the country’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that Pyongyang is willing to have comprehensive discussions with the United States in late September “of the issues we have so far taken up” at a time and place agreed between both sides.
Trump was asked about the offer while speaking to reporters at the White House and called it “interesting”. He also mentioned, as he often does, his “good relationship” with Kim.
“I just saw it as I’m coming out here, that they would like to meet. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “I always say having meetings is a good thing, not a bad thing.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on September 8 that he hopes for a return to denuclearisation talks in the coming days or weeks while reiterating the US objective of North Korea’s complete denuclearisation and saying Washington was disappointed by North Korean short-range missile tests.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
