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| U.S. special representative for North Korea Sung Kim, left, and Moscow's Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov / Yonhap |
The U.S. special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, was set to hold separate talks with his South Korean and Russian counterparts in Seoul on Monday to discuss joint efforts to resume dialogue with North Korea, Seoul officials said.
Kim's meetings with Seoul's chief nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, and Moscow's Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, come as tensions have flared anew with Pyongyang reacting furiously to the ongoing South Korea-U.S. military exercise.
During their talks, Noh and Kim are expected to explore ways to encourage the North's return to dialogue through humanitarian initiatives or other means, amid concerns that the recalcitrant regime could provoke on the pretext of the allied exercise.
The two sides held their last in-person meeting in Seoul in June, during which Kim said Washington had offered to meet with Pyongyang "anytime, anywhere without preconditions" in a renewed overture for dialogue.
After the talks, Kim will meet Morgulov, who doubles as Russia's chief nuclear envoy. Kim is expected to call for Russia's full implementation of anti-Pyongyang sanctions and cooperation in resuming nuclear talks with the North.
Both Kim and Morgulov arrived in Seoul on Saturday.
Last month, cautious optimism emerged for inter-Korean cooperation, as the two Koreas reactivated their communication lines, some 13 months after the North severed them in anger over activists sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border into the North.
But the cross-border ties chilled again, as the North has repeatedly castigated the South Korea-U.S. exercise, calling it the "most vivid expression of the U.S. hostile policy" toward the North and warning of a "serious security crisis."
Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have remained stalemated since the Hanoi summit between then U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended without a deal in 2019. (Yonhap)
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