Denuclearization Negotiations

[Anchor Lead]

South Korea's Special Representative Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon is in the United States to sit down with his American counterpart to discuss how to proceed with the denuclearization negotiation. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote in his contribution to Foreign Affairs that nuclear talks with North Korea were different from the ones with Iran and again stressed that the U.S. wants final and complete denuclearization from North Korea.

[Pkg]

South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon, who is currently in the US for his talks with his counterpart, said that it's natural that the date for the second U.S.-North Korea talks has not yet been fixed. He said that it will take a long time to get ready, as a U.S,-North Korea summit is a huge event that is likely to take
place in a third country.

[Soundbite] Lee Do-hoon(Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs) : "What's important is that the U.S. and North Korea continue to move in one direction."

Lee plans to confirm the schedule for a high-ranking officials' meeting mentioned by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as well as the dates and agendas for a working-level meeting between Washington's Special Representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, and North Korea's foreign affairs minister Choe Son-hui. Meanwhile, Secretary Pompeo wrote in political magazine, Foreign Affairs, that President Trump instinctively does not like bad deals and the U.S. can walk out of a negotiation that does not promote American interests at any time. He stressed that in the future talks with North Korea, that it will be important to disable Pyongyang from restarting its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs and allow inspections of key nuclear facilities to ensure complete and verifiable denuclearization. He pointed out that the Obama administration's nuclear agreement with Iran was a bad deal because they were unable to secure these conditions and ensured that the current administration will not compromise this point with North Korea.