WORKING LEVEL DENUCLEARIZATION TALKS

[Anchor Lead]

North Korea and the United States might hold working-level denuclearization talks as early as this month. KBS has found that the South Korean government is considering the resumption of tours to Kumgangsan Mountain and Kaesong, in line with progress in the Pyongyang-Washington talks. Washington is said to have shown a positive response to Seoul's plans.

[Pkg]

During his flight back to Washington after the meeting of North Korean and U.S. leaders on June 30, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun outlined the big picture of the Pyongyang-Washington talks. He said that if Pyongyang freezes its weapons of mass destruction during the talks, Washington could make concessions in the form of improved diplomatic relations and humanitarian aid as reciprocal measures. Although Biegun made it clear that just freezing the weapons program would not be enough to lift the sanctions against the North, he did promise reciprocal measures that are unrelated to the sanctions itself. Seoul is also considering making its own proposition to Pyongyang such as resuming tours to Kumgangsan Mountain and Kaesong. Tours to Kumgangsan and Kaesong areas were launched in 1998 and 2007, respectively, but were suspended in 2008. This is plausible as tourism is not subject to the U.N. Security Council's sanctions. North Korea also appears eager to resume the tours, because individual tourism is not subject to sanctions, as it does not involve the transfer of large sums of cash. Sources say Washington has shown a positive response to Seoul's plan to resume tourism in North Korea. However, the key point here is whether or not Pyongyang and Washington will make progress in the working-level denuclearization talks. For now, Seoul wants to make sure that the negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington take place early on before the improvement of inter-Korean ties.