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South Korean, US, and Japanese senior representatives for negotiations on the North Korean nuclear in Singapore on May 31. (photo pool)
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Issue of food aid also main topic of discussion
The South Korean, US, and Japanese senior representatives for negotiations on the North Korean nuclear issue sat down together in Singapore on May 31 to discuss ways of reviving denuclearization talks, which have been at an impasse since the collapse of the North Korea-US summit in Hanoi. Lee Do-hoon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, met that day with Stephen Biegun, the US State Department special representative for North Korea, and Kenji Kanasugi, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, which is hosting the Shangri-La Dialogue (Asia Security Summit). After the meeting, Lee said the three sides’ senior representatives had “had done a good job of closely discussing various issues.” “We agreed to continue cooperating in the future as we have cooperated to date,” he added. The meeting in the hotel’s restaurant lasted for two hours and 20 minutes. When asked whether he expected North Korea-US talks or inter-Korean discussions to happen in the near future, Lee said, “Everyone is doing their best, and we are discussing ideas.” When asked if a third North Korea-US summit had been discussed, he answered, “Every topic was addressed.” On the issue of the representatives’ next meeting, Lee said, “There will be South Korea-US, South Korea-Japan, and US-Japan [meetings] here.” “As I understand it, various discussions will continue to take place,” he added. Both Biegun and Kanasugi avoided questions, respectively stating that they could not comment or could not address the topic that day. The meeting of the three sides’ senior representatives on the North Korean nuclear issue comes nearly three months after they previously met in Washington, DC, in early March. Prior to the meeting that day, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official explained that it was “intended to review and assess the situation since Hanoi and coordinate an appropriate message to North Korea to keep the environment for dialogue going.” In a keynote speech for the Jeju Forum at the Jeju International Convention Center on May 30, Lee stressed, “We must realize that time is no longer on our side.” “The parties in these negotiations must actively play their part in building mutual trust and getting the dialogue process started again,” he said at the time. The topic of food aid to North Korea also appears to have been the focus of considerable discussion during the meeting that day. When asked just before the meeting if the food aid issue would be discussed, Lee said, “We are continuing to talk about it.” By Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
