ONGOING N. KOREA-U.S. TALKS

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North Korea has announced the date of working-level denuclearization talks scheduled with the United States. North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said in a statement, that the two sides agreed to hold the talks on Saturday. Whether the resumed dialogue can produce tangible effects, likely depends on the two sides coming to an agreement on the so-called 'new calculation method'.

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South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that Pyeongyang fired a projectile into the East Sea from northern Wonsan in Gangwondo Province Wednesday morning. The JCS added the projectile believed tobe an SLBM, flew around 450 kilometers at a maximum altitude of about 910 km. Seoul's military is monitoring related movements in case of additional launches. The launch comes just a day after Pyongyang announced it will hold talks with Washington. North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said the two sides agreed to hold working-level talks on Saturday. The announcement came in a statement just 4 days left to the date. The session is taking place about 3 months after the leaders of North Korea and the U.S. agreed to resume dialogue when they met at the inter-Korean border on June 30th. But the venue of the meeting has not been announced. According to the vice foreign minister the two sides agreed to a preliminary contact on Friday. Choe pointed out, North Korea is ready for working-level negotiations and expressed hopes it can accelerate positive development in bilateral relations. Until now, the regime has been demanding what it called a 'new calculation method' from America. While proposing to hold talks within September early last month, the communist state clarified, its demands are security guarantees and sanctions relief. Pyeongyang's chief nuclear envoy Kim Myong-gil hinted at a step-by-step approach on denuclearization while Kim Kye-gwan, a foreign ministry adviser, even urged President Donald Trump to make a bold decision.

[Soundbite] JEONG SEONG-JANG(SEJONG INSTITUTE) : "The two sides will likely present measures considerate of each other's stance as their differences were clearly confirmed at the Hanoi summit."

The North's Foreign Ministry ambassador Kim Myong-gil, known to be an expert on U.S. affairs, will lead the upcoming meeting with his American counterpart, Stephen Biegun from the State Department. South Korea's presidential office welcomed the agreement on the Saturday talks. Cheong Wa Dae hopes the talks will quicken real progress towards achieving complete denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.