S. Korea to seek three-way talks with DPRK, U.S.

Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 17:55:56|Editor: Yurou
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SEOUL, March 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Monday that her ministry will seek to hold three-way talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States to help rapidly resume the DPRK-U.S. dialogue.

Kang made the remarks in her report to President Moon Jae-in during a National Security Council (NSC) meeting of the presidential Blue House, chaired by the president in about nine months, according to Moon's office.

The top South Korean diplomat vowed to push for various ways to create a dialogue table between Pyongyang and Washington, including the 1.5-track talks.

The 1.5-track dialogue, involving working-level officials and private experts, was held in Sweden in January, attended by Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for DPRK affairs, DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Lee Do-hoon, special South Korean representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs.

Kang said her ministry will help rapidly resume the DPRK-U.S. talks via cooperation with relevant countries such as China and Russia.

The NSC meeting was convened to find ways to broker a compromise between Pyongyang and Washington after the second summit between top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump ended without a deal in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi last week.

During the upcoming working-level talks between the DPRK and the United States, a major issue on the negotiating table will be the dismantlement of the DPRK's main nuclear complex plus alpha versus relief from sanctions against Pyongyang, Kang forecast.

She said the two sides seemed to have actually come to an agreement on the establishment of liaison offices and the declaration of an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told President Moon that his ministry will seek to push for inter-Korean projects without violating international sanctions against the DPRK, saying he will prepare for consultation with the U.S. side on the resumption of Kaesong Industrial Complex and the Mount Kumgang tour.

The jointly-run factory park in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong and the South Koreans' tour to the DPRK's scenic resort of Mount Kumgang have been suspended since 2016 and 2008 each.

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said his ministry will seek to hold general-level military talks this month with the DPRK to implement the comprehensive military agreement, signed by defense chiefs of the two Koreas in September last year during the Pyongyang summit between the leaders of South Korea and the DPRK.

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