hankyoreh

North Korea and the United States will resume talks on normalizing ties in Geneva, Switzerland, on September 1-2. These are the second talks of their kind and are one of the various working-level discussions put in motion by the February 13 six-party agreement. They will be attended by the two countries’ top representatives to the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.

Sources in Washington say that the two-day meeting will comprise comprehensive talks about “action for action” implementation between Pyongyang and Washington of the second phase of the disablement of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities and denuclearization, based on other working-level talks on economics and energy (Aug. 7-8), denuclearization (Aug. 16-17) and Northeast Asian peace and security (Aug. 20-21) between nations participating in the six-party process.

One source said that the timing of the talks appears to have been set in consideration of Christopher Hill’s obligation to participate in meetings of high-ranking officials and a foreign ministers’ meeting ahead of the upcoming APEC summit Sydney. The source said that while a date for the next round of six-party talks is not currently being discussed, it is likely to be held “in mid-September or thereafter.”

In a related development, the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun reported yesterday that North Korea and Japan will hold their own working-level talks on normalizing relations on Aug. 30-31 in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator. In addition, Tokyo Shimbun, a Japanese daily, reported that Song Il-ho, the North Korean diplomat responsible for normalization talks with Japan, had secretly visited Shenyang, China, on Aug. 25 and speculated that the visit may have been part of preliminary contact ahead of the meeting in Mongolia.