N. Korean delegation for talk with US heads to Stockholm via Beijing

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Kim Myong-gil, currently North Korea’s chief US negotiator, in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 26 for the second North Korea-US summit. (Hankyoreh archives)

Developments hint working-level talks to proceed despite Pyongyang’s SLBM launch

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Kim Myong-gil, currently North Korea’s chief US negotiator, in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 26 for the second North Korea-US summit. (Hankyoreh archives)

Following announcements by North Korea and the US of their agreement to hold preliminary contact and working-level negotiations on denuclearization on Oct. 4 and 5, a North Korean delegation for the talks headed for the Swedish capital of Stockholm via Beijing on the afternoon of Oct. 3. Their departure could be seen as signaling that the talks are going ahead as scheduled despite the tensions raised by North Korea’s recent test launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

The delegation, headed by Foreign Ministry Roving Ambassador Kim Myong-gil, North Korea’s North Korean representative for its working-level talks with the US, arrived at Terminal 2 of Beijing Capital Airport at 10:15 that morning on Air Koryo Flight JS251 from Pyongyang and traveled from there to Terminal 3, where their transfer flight awaited. When asked by reporters about the purpose of his journey, Kim said, “We’re going to North Korea-US working-level negotiations.” He also said that the “new signals from the US have inspired great hopes and optimism, and I’m optimistic about the outcome.”

The North Korean delegation reportedly consisted of four members, including Kim as well as Kwon Jong-gun, former director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s US affairs bureau, and Jong Nam-hyok, a researcher at North Korea’s Institute for American Studies. First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui was not seen at the airport that day. According to Air China, Flight CA911 to Stockholm, which the delegation members had reservations for, took off around 30 minutes behind schedule at approximately 2:27 pm.

　

By Jung In-hwan, Beijing correspondent

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