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| Jo Chol-su, chief of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Division who is also among a four-member North Korean denuclearization talks delegation led by chief negotiator Kim Myong-gil, was spotted at Beijing Capital International Airport, Thursday. Yonhap |
Chief NK negotiator remains positive for US talks in Stockholm
By Kim Yoo-chul
The United States has "unofficially" promised North Korea to offer "low-level" sanctions relief including a partial resumption of tourism at Mount Geumgang in North Korea, two sources familiar with the issue said Thursday.
"Washington's nuclear negotiating team plans to offer low-level sanctions relief at working-level talks which will take place Oct. 5," one said asking not to be identified as he wasn't authorized to officially speak to the media.
The diplomatic source said U.S. negotiators would use this as a "starting point," adding that the fine details would be worked out as the talks progressed. "No major announcements will come at the working-level talks as the United States is hoping to narrow additional conditions and demands through follow-up discussions. The upcoming U.S.-North Korea talks will directly touch on sanctions relief that Pyongyang will receive," he told The Korea Times.
At the United Nations, last week, President Donald Trump said he was hoping to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "soon," and added he wasn't considering further punitive santions as he would able to make a "deal" with Kim.
Chief North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Myong-gil and his team departed from Beijing Capital International Airport, China, Thursday, for Stockholm, Sweden, for the talks.
"I will hold working-level discussions with the United States. As new signals have come from the United States, I would say my team has higher expectations and prospects, and I am positive about the outcome," Kim told reporters before boarding the flight to Stockholm.
Mentioning reports by Washington-based online media Vox, which claimed the United Nations was going to suspend sanctions on the North's textile and coal exports for 36 months in exchange for the verifiable closure of the Yongbyon nuclear facility and the ending of the country's uranium enrichment, another diplomatic source said the U.S. team plans to offer a partial resumption of tourism to Mount Geumgang in North Korea.
Officials at Cheong Wa Dae declined to comment.
Political experts said recent missile launches by North Korea were intended to increase its leverage at the upcoming talks. On Wednesday, the North carried out its first underwater-launch of a ballistic missile in three years.
It later described the test of a Pukguksong-3 missile as a "submarine-launched ballistic missile" with the official KCNA claiming this "ushered in a new phase in containing outside forces' threats, and further bolstering the military muscle of self-defense."
"It seems North Korea wants to make its negotiating position quite clear before talks even begin," Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest said. "Pyongyang seems set to push Washington to back off from past demands of full denuclearization for what are only promises of sanctions relief."
In Hanoi February this year, North Korea insisted its leader Kim only asked Trump to ease economic sanctions that affected the daily lives of its citizens. But Trump claimed he wanted nearly all sanctions lifted in exchange for the closure of the Yongbyon nuclear facility. As a result no deal was reached.
U.S.-North Korea relations have seen some signs of improvement after Pyongyang welcomed Trump's firing of National Security Adviser John Bolton, and responded positively to the U.S. president suggested that the two sides try the "new method," initially touted by the North, in their nuclear disarmament talks.
