 South Korea’s top nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac, left, walks toward an entrance after arriving at the Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, Tuesday. He is expected to meet his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho today for a second round of inter-Korean talks this year on dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons. / Yonhap |
Working-level officials from the two Koreas met Tuesday in Beijing to set the table for the second round of rare bilateral denuclearization talks, slated for today, amid cautious hopes for the eventual resumption of multilateral negotiations.
Wi Sung-lac, Seoul’s chief nuclear envoy is slated to meet his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong-ho in Beijing for the second time since July as regional players try to seize on a recent warming trend and resume the long-stalled six-party talks.
To fine-tune the format and agenda of the talks, Cho Hyun-dong, deputy envoy to six-party disarmament talks met with Choe Son-hui, deputy chief of the United States bureau of North Korea’s Foreign Ministry.
Officials have been relatively upbeat about the nascent bilateral talks, which have led to a similar meeting between Washington and Pyongyang. But the sides remain far apart on what the Stalinist state must do before the multilateral forum resumes.
The South Korean official told Yonhap News Agency Tuesday he would handle the talks “in line with our principles,” but with “an open and flexible mind."
The remark was a sign that Wi would stick to Seoul’s preconditions that the North halt all nuclear activities in a verifiable manner before negotiations resume, while maintaining an overall positive atmosphere.
Analysts said the North would also be motivated to keep the mood optimistic, as it could lead to a second round of U.S.-North talks, historically coveted by Pyongyang, which could help move the process forward.
Earlier this week, Ri reportedly said he would reiterate the North’s stance that the denuclearization-for-aid forum should resume without preconditions.
Relations remain murky despite recent signs of warming. Tension peaked last year in the wake of Pyongyang’s two deadly attacks on the South.
The North has long refused to apologize for these, a demand that Seoul has since backed down from. Conditions took a turn for the better in July after Wi and Ri surprised the world by holding talks on the sidelines of an ASEAN forum in Bali.
Since then, both Koreas have worked with Russia on a plan to pipe Siberian gas to the South via the North, a project with bright financial and diplomatic prospects. Seoul has also allowed for greater civil access with the North, including visits by religious and cultural figures.
Regional players want peninsular relations to improve ahead of multilateral talks.
“Since Bali, the government is trying to reach out to North Korea to resume dialogue,” Yoo Ho-yeol, an expert at Korea University, said. “There is no direct connection to nuclear issues, but the Beijing meeting is likely to maintain a positive environment.”
Among diplomatic thorns, the sides continue to wrangle over the fate of South Korean assets at a stalled joint tourism project in the North. Pyongyang, which has seized the assets, is threatening to auction them off to international investors. Seoul says the move would breach inter-Korean agreements.
Pyongyang also recently rejected a shipment of emergency supplies to deal with severe summer floods, saying it wanted food and cement instead.
Also muddying the water is the widely-held view that Pyongyang is highly unlikely to give up the weapons program seen as its greatest bargaining chip. Analysts say it is leveraging the program in a bid to secure aid as it prepares for power succession from leader Kim Jong-il to his youngest son, Jong-un.
Some warn that if Pyongyang’s diplomatic push fails, it could up the ante with further provocations that would likely trigger a harsh South Korean response.
The six-party talks have been stalled since 2008 after the North walked out in response to sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests. They are seen as the best forum to contain the Stalinist state.
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