Two Koreas’ Top Nuclear Envoys Meet in Beijing

South Korea’s top nuclear envoy Kim Sook met with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye Kwan in Beijing Friday, said officials at the Foreign Ministry.

“The two Koreas’ chief nuclear negotiators held a meeting for an hour at Beijing`s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse,” said the ministry, without elaborating on the details.

It is the first time for Kim to meet directly with his North Korean counterpart since his appointment as chief nuclear negotiator.

Their meeting has drawn keen attention from at home and abroad since it came amid a particularly frosty period of inter-Korean relations. North Korea suspended official dialogue with South Korea since Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong’s remarks linked inter-Korean economic cooperation to the nuclear issue and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Kim Tae-young’s equally sensitive comments, which North Korea alleges indicated a preemptive attack on North Korea.

It is reported that the two negotiators reaffirmed each other’s positions on pending nuclear issues based on the results of the Beijing meeting between the United States and North Korea.

In the meantime, State Department spokesman Tom Casey commented Thursday (local time), “We expect two outcomes from the Beijing talks. One is China’s expectation that the stalled six-party talks will be resumed within two to three weeks. And the other is that working-level meetings between U.S. and North Korean technicians will be held.”

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