South, U.S., Japan agree to work on nuke talks
The chief nuclear negotiators of South Korea, the United States and Japan met in
Washington Tuesday and reaffirmed the importance of working together to achieve
complete denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S.
State Department said.
Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs,
held bilateral and trilateral talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts -
Stephen Biegun and Shigeki Takizaki - to discuss last weekend’s working-level
denuclearization negotiations between North Korea and the United States in Sweden.
At their meetings Tuesday, the three sides “reaffirmed the importance of continued
close U.S.-ROK, U.S.-Japan, and trilateral coordination on North Korea to achieve
complete denuclearization and bring lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula,” the
State Department said in a statement.
ROK stands for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.
Lee spoke briefly to reporters as he left the meetings but refused to share details.
“We spoke mostly about how to keep the momentum for dialogue [with North Korea],”
he said. “South Korea and the United States are coordinating well and we will continue to do so.”
North Korea had demanded that the United States come to the table with a new proposal
after their summit in Vietnam in February broke down over differences on how much
the North should denuclearize before receiving sanctions relief from the U.S.
Pyongyang has also stepped up calls for U.S. security guarantees for its regime.
Lee, the South Korean envoy, became a target of North Korean criticism Tuesday.
In an article published in the Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korea newspaper based in Japan,
the North denounced the South for trying to play a “mediating role” in denuclearization talks
between Pyongyang and Washington and claimed that Seoul cannot do anything
independently of Washington.
“It is dumbfounding, as what role on earth the South is trying to play at a time when
it can’t do anything but just pay attention to what the United States says,” the paper said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a military farm, state media reported
Wednesday, in his first public appearance since the breakdown of working-level
nuclear negotiations with the United States in Sweden last weekend.
The “field guidance” to Farm No. 1116 under Unit 810 of the Korean Peoples’ Army
appears to be designed to underline Kim’s commitment to resolve food problems
and focus on economic development despite the lack of progress in Saturday’s talks
with the United States in Stockholm.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not say exactly when the farm visit
was made, as is customary with North Korean state media, but such reporting usually
comes a day after the visit. The visit also marked Kim’s first public appearance in about four weeks.
“The only thing we can rely on is the power of science and technology,” Kim said
during the visit, according to the KCNA, stressing the importance of training scientists
and technicians and taking good care of them.
“He called on all the units in every field to establish the viewpoint and work attitude
of giving priority to science and technology to carry out their tasks with their own
efforts as social customs, holding fast to science and technology,” the KCNA said.
Kim also “underscored the need for the agricultural scientific research sector to study
farming methods for increased production in intermediate and mountainous areas and
low-yielding areas and thus provide sci-tech guarantee for attaining the goal for
grain production,” it said.