ZCZC
BFF-26
NKOREA-US-NUCLEAR-DIPLOMACY
Top N. Korea negotiator praises Trump’s ‘new method’ suggestion
SEOUL, Sept 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – North Korea’s chief negotiator in talks
with the United States welcomed Donald Trump’s suggestion of trying a “new
method” in negotiations, and hailed the exit of his hawkish national security
advisor.
The US President had fired John Bolton last week, revealing deep divisions
between the two on major foreign policy issues including nuclear talks with
Pyongyang.
Trump on Thursday said he would consider trying a “new method” in talks
with Pyongyang, which have been deadlocked since the collapse of his second
summit with Kim Jong Un collapsed in February.
Kim Myong Gil, Pyongyang’s top delegate for working-level negotiations with
Washington, said the comment underscored a “political perception and
disposition peculiar to President Trump”, calling it a “wise political
decision” in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
“At the moment I am not quite sure what he implied in his suggestion of
‘new method’,” he added.
“It seems he wanted to imply that a step-by-step solution starting with the
things feasible first while building trust in each other would be the best
option.”
Trump had criticised Bolton’s suggestion of the “Libyan model” for North
Korea, a reference to a denuclearisation deal with the African nation’s
former dictator Moamer Kadhafi — who was killed after being deposed in 2011.
Pyongyang had bristled at that comment, which Trump said had “set us very
back very badly”.
Kim Myong Gil described Bolton as “a nasty trouble-maker who used to face
everything out of his anachronistic way of thinking”.
North Korea and the United States agreed to restart working-level dialogue
during an impromptu meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un at the
Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas in June, and Pyongyang has offered
to hold those talks in late September, a move the US has described as
“encouraging”.
There has been no announcement yet on the venue and precise schedule for
the talks.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1953 hrs