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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun talk with reporters in Seoul before heading to China on Oct. 8. (Yonhap News)
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Talks to be led by Stephen Biegun and Choe Son-hui
After North Korea and the US agreed to hold a second summit as soon as possible, the two sides are finalizing the time and location of the working-level negotiations that will discuss the specifics of the summit, the Hankyoreh learned on Oct. 9. Since both North Korea and the US want to hold the working-level negotiations at an early point, negotiators are expected to sit down together as early as the beginning of next week. Officials have confirmed that the working-level negotiations will be led by US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun and North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son-hui. While staying in Seoul after his visit to North Korea, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters before departing for China on Oct. 8 that he figured that Biegun’s counterpart would be Choe Son-hui. During an earlier proposal for working-level negotiations in Vienna, Austria, Pompeo had only used the term “counterpart,” but now he has specifically mentioned Choe for this role. Location of working-level talks yet to be determined The question of setting a time for the working-level negotiations appears to be linked to North Korea’s diplomatic schedule. There has been speculation that Kim Jong-un will visit Russia around Oct. 12 to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between North Korea and Russia. Choe – Biegun’s counterpart in the talks – traveled through China to Russia for trilateral deliberations with China and Russia’s vice ministers of foreign affairs on Oct. 9. Considering that Biegun “issued an invitation to my counterpart to meet as soon as possible,” North Korea would appear to have its choice of dates. The location of the working-level talks is up in the air. Pompeo said “we’ll have a chance to meet here in between the [second North Korea-US] summit date as well,” which replaces “Vienna” with “here.” When asked whether this means that Vienna won’t be the location of the working-level talks, Pompeo said, “Who knows?” This has led some to suggest that there’s a disagreement between North Korea and the US over the location of the working-level negotiations. “What I’m told is that the US proposed Vienna, but North Korea hasn’t given a definite response yet,” said a senior official in South Korea’s Foreign Ministry. Panmunjom to serve as default option for working-level deliberations Another interpretation is that Pompeo was thinking of Panmunjom when he said “here.” Panmunjom was the site of all the working-level deliberations that took place in advance of the first North Korea-US summit, which was held in Singapore on June 12. Since the working-level negotiations presume that the second North Korea-US summit will be held on an accelerated timetable, some analysts suggest that physical considerations such as access and convenience will be the priority, even if the negotiations end up being held in a third country. The working-level negotiations are expected to be focused on finding ways to implement the agreements reached during the first North Korea-US summit and to harmonize demands for North Korea to take denuclearization measures and for the US to take corresponding measures. A certain amount of progress must be reached here in order to move on to the issue of deciding the time and location of the second North Korea-US summit. “We’re looking forward [. . . to] begin in earnest the process of denuclearization to fill the vision the president and Chairman Kim had from Singapore,” Biegun said. By Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
