Japanese Media: North Korea and U.S. Hold Working-Level Talks Ahead of Possible Summit Before October

The Asahi Shimbun reported on the 27th, citing sources familiar with North Korea-U.S. relations, that North Korea and the United States held working-level discussions in preparation for the possibility of a North Korea-U.S. summit before October.

President Donald Trump had repeatedly expressed his intention to meet with Kim Jongun, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit held in Gyeongju at the end of last month. According to the sources, “Working-level officials from both sides made contact in anticipation of a possible summit meeting.”

Donald Trump, President of the United States, and Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea. Yonhap News Agency

The Asahi explained that this is interpreted as a resumption of the working-level contacts that the Donald Trump administration had conducted prior to the three North Korea-U.S. summits during its first term.

However, the sources did not mention specific participants or locations of the working-level discussions.

Another source told the Asahi that the Trump administration had tried to restore the working-level dialogue channel between North Korea and the United States that existed during its first term since the beginning of the administration, but North Korea did not respond.

The Asahi also noted that there is precedent for such contacts, as U.S. State Department officials and representatives of North Korea’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations held private meetings in New York from the 1990s through around 2010.