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North Korea’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs

Pyongyang and Washington look to be making renewed attempts at dialogue with a half-official, half-non-official, so-called “Track 1.5” meeting next month in Singapore.

“As I understand it, officials from the North Korean foreign ministry and Korean Peninsula experts in the US are working out a possible meeting in Singapore next month,” said a Washington diplomatic source on Dec. 3.

The same source cautioned that “nothing has been decided for certain yet on the participants or schedule.”

The US side is reportedly hoping North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong-ho, the country’s senior representative to the six-party talks on the nuclear issue, will attend. Likely representatives from the US side include former State Department special representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth and former National Counter Proliferation Center chief Joseph DeTrani.

Since this fall, Washington has been suggesting that it will not be attaching conditions or a specific agenda to bilateral dialogue with Pyongyang for meetings in the 1.5 Track format - a marked contrast with the six-party talks. The main reason for this more flexible attitude could be the situation unfolding in Ukraine. With Washington and Russia on their worst terms since the Cold War ended, the Barack Obama administration now finds itself having to spend the remaining two years of its term managing issues in China, Iran, and North Korea.

Washington‘s need for “exploratory dialogue” is more being felt more keenly after the passage of a human rights resolution by the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee recently prompted Pyongyang to hint at the possibility of another nuclear test, analysts said.

“The US has gained some room to maneuver [on the nuclear issue],” a senior South Korean government official said on condition of anonymity.

South Korea and the US have also changed their positions slightly on their preconditions for resuming the six-party talks. The senior South Korean representative to the talks, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs Hwang Joon-kook, sounded a softer note after meeting in Moscow on Dec. 3 with Russia’s chief delegate Igor Morgulov.

“We’re not saying that the only way we’ll have dialogue [in the six-party talks framework] is after North Korea goes through one to ten specific steps, the way people seem to understand it,” Hwang said at the time.

Washington also hinted that it could have discussions with Pyongyang to reach an agreement on the conditions for resuming the talks, which it previously said included denuclearization steps on par with the Leap Day Agreement of 2012.

The chances of a deal being reached quickly look slim, with a vast gulf between the conditions Washington and Seoul are hoping for and Pyongyang’s demand for an “unconditional” resumption of the six-party talks. And North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s blunt denunciations of the US over the UN resolution are a sign of ill will that could turn the human rights issue into an obstacle to bilateral dialogue.

By Lee Yong-in, staff reporter and Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

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