SEOUL: North Korea on Tuesday said it will hold working-level nuclear talks with the US on Saturday, signalling the resumption of much-anticipated negotiations after the collapse of a summit in February.
The two sides agreed to have “preliminary contact” on October 4 and hold working-level negotiations the following day, the North’s vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
“It is my expectation that the working-level negotiations would accelerate the positive development of the DPRK-US relations,” she added without disclosing the talks’ venue.
North Korean officials were “ready” to enter the discussions, she said.
Negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been gridlocked since a second summit between North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in February ended without a deal.
The two agreed to restart working-level dialogue during an impromptu meeting at the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas in June, but the North’s anger at a US refusal to cancel joint military deals with South Korea placed the process on hold.
Relations thawed last month after Trump fired his hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, who Pyongyang had repeatedly denounced as a warmonger.
North Korea’s chief negotiator also responded positively to Trump’s suggestion that the two sides try a “new method” of approaching their discussions.
Trump had criticized Bolton’s suggestion of the “Libyan model” for North Korea, a reference to a denuclearization deal with the African nation’s former dictator Muammar Qaddafi — who was killed after being deposed in 2011.
Pyongyang had bristled at that comment, which Trump said had “set us back very badly.”
Despite the gridlock, Pyongyang has continued to praise Trump, calling him “bold” and “wise.”
South Korea’s presidential Blue House welcomed the resumption of dialogue between the North and the US.
“We hope to see the realization of practical steps toward permanent peace regime and complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula through the upcoming talks,” said spokeswoman Ko Min-jung.
North Korea to hold nuclear talks with US on Saturday
North Korea to hold nuclear talks with US on Saturday
- North Korean officials ‘ready’ to enter the discussions
- Negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been gridlocked since a second summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump in February
UK police arrest former ambassador Peter Mandelson in probe into Epstein ties
- Former UK ambassador to the US arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office
LONDON: British police on Monday arrested Peter Mandelson, a former UK ambassador to the United States, in a misconduct probe stemming from his ties with Jeffrey Epstein.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said “officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office” at an address in north London.
It did not name Mandelson, in keeping with British police practice, but the suspect in the case has previously been identified as Mandelson.
Police are investigating Mandelson over documents suggesting he passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. He does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.
His arrest comes four days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, was arrested on suspicion of a similar offense related to his friendship with Epstein.
Mandelson was fired from his diplomatic post in September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. When more details emerged in documents released by the US Justice Department last month, police opened a criminal probe.
