S. KOREA-U.S. TOP NUCLEAR ENVOYS HOLD TALKS

[Anchor Lead]

Top nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States met again yesterday in Seoul. Only five days have passed since they had discussed the end-of-war declaration in the U.S. last week. Talks between the two sides are likely to take place in November as well, but the allies face a rough road ahead as North Korea insists on preconditions.

[Pkg]

South Korea and America's top nuke envoys met early Sunday morning. Since President Moon Jae-in proposed officially ending the Korean War at the UN General Assembly in September... the two sides held three meetings in Washington and Seoul in just one month.

[Soundbite] Noh Kyu-duk(Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace & Security Affairs) : "We are communicating closely every day regardless of time, place or method."

Sung Kim defined a series of North Korea’s ballistic missile launches as provocations. But the official repeatedly emphasized the U.S. has no hostile intentions and is open to dialogue. He also pointed out, Washington will continue to talk with Seoul to discuss the end-of-war declaration and other North Korea-related matters.

[Soundbite] Sung Kim(U.S. Special Representative for North Korea)

A foreign affairs expert knowledgeable in North Korean nuclear issues said the two sides made considerable progress in the wording for the end-of-war declaration. The allies appear to have noted that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un showed personal interest in the declaration proposal. This comes after the regime remained unresponsive to several dialogue proposals. Washington is believed to be examining the aftereffects of the declaration very carefully. The two sides are reportedly scheduling the State Department’s high-ranking officials’ visit to South Korea.

[Soundbite] Lim Eul-chul(Prof., Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam Univ.) : "South Korea and the U.S. are talking at the highest level and coming up with concrete and realistic proposals for North Korea. This is something unprecedented."

The key is how Pyongyang would respond to the proposal. On Sunday, the regime denounced through its propaganda media that this week’s Eulji-Taegeuk emergency response exercise is an anti-North Korea policy. Another North Korean media claimed that a working group being discussed by Seoul and Washington's military authorities aims to pressure the regime.