By Kang Seung-woo
The
chief nuclear negotiators of South Korea, the United States and Japan are expected to discuss ways to cope with North Korea's recent bellicosity, according to Pyongyang watchers.
 |
| Noh Kyu-duk / Yonhap |
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, Friday, that Noh Kyu-duk, Seoul's top nuclear envoy, and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, will hold a trilateral meeting next week in Washington, D.C.
Noh and Kim are expected to meet bilaterally on Monday and join a trilateral meeting with Funakoshi the following day. Noh is also likely to hold two-way talks with Funakoshi on Tuesday. The three-way talks last took place in September in Tokyo, where the parties explored ways to encourage Pyongyang's return to dialogue, including humanitarian and other incentives.
"As North Korea has repeatedly test-fired missiles, they are expected to share opinions on how to deal with its recent hostile moves," said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
The Kim Jong-un regime launched missiles on four occasions in September.
"While Japan has responded sensitively to North Korea's missile launches, the U.S. may follow suit if the North continues launching missiles and doubling down on developing strategic weapons," Hong said.
"In that respect, the government needs to persuade the U.S. and Japan to analyze North Korea's recent moves with balance. That is likely to be Noh's main job next week."
The talks come as President Moon Jae-in proposed declaring a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War in a speech at the U.N. last month, raising expectations that the nuclear envoys will discuss the issue.
However, Hong said the end-of-war declaration would not be high on the agenda this time.
"Earlier this week, National Security Adviser Suh Hoon met with his U.S. counterpart Jake Sullivan and already discussed the issue. In addition, the U.S. government still remains cautious about it, so it cannot accept it immediately," Hong said.
This follows the South Korean and U.S. representatives discurssing the issue during a meeting in Indonesia, Sept. 30.
"We also explained our position on the end-of-war declaration to the U.S. side in detail as the most effective among the confidence-building measures," Noh said upon his return from Indonesia, Oct. 1.
