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A vehicle believed to be transporting US State Department Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Biegun departs from the Hackholmmssund center by Lake Mälar northwest of Stockholm, Sweden, on Jan. 21. (Yonhap News)
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Trilateral talks among two Koreas and US reportedly took place
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui and US State Department Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Biegun wrapped up four days of preparatory working-level talks in Stockholm on Jan. 21 for an upcoming second North Korea-US summit. Arriving on Jan. 19 at their hotel and international conference venue at the Hackholmmssund center by Lake Mälar northwest of Stockholm, the attendees remained on the premises the entire time as they conducted discussions until late at night on Jan. 21. Biegun was first to leave the venue that morning; a vehicle carrying Choe departed the Hackholmmsund center later on. A trilateral meeting involving the North and South Korea and the US reportedly took place at an official meeting arranged by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which organized the conference. Attending from the South Korean side was Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon. As the occasion was organized to help North Korea and the US find common ground in their talks on denuclearization and normalizing relations, they are believed to have expressed their respective positions with relative candor. Biegun reportedly explained in detail about a White House meeting he had attended on Jan. 18 between US President Donald Trump and Workers’ Party of Korea Vice Chairman and United Front Department Director Kim Yong-chol. Observers are now looking to see whether the groundwork was laid for a potential breakthrough in talks on denuclearization and corresponding measures. The next focus of particular attention is coordination on the issues of the dismantlement of the North’s nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and the loosening of sanctions. As of the afternoon of Jan. 21, it had not been confirmed whether a separate trilateral meeting not involving Sweden was held. But with the South and North Korean delegations departing the center around two hours after Biegun, analysts are raising the possibility that inter-Korean discussions also took place. By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
