{"id":59604,"date":"2018-02-26T05:34:47","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T05:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=59604"},"modified":"2018-02-26T05:34:47","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T05:34:47","slug":"us-ties-any-north-korea-talks-to-nuclear-arms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/lifestyle\/us-ties-any-north-korea-talks-to-nuclear-arms.html","title":{"rendered":"US ties any North Korea talks to nuclear arms"},"content":{"rendered":"

US ties any North Korea talks to nuclear arms<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The United States says any dialogue with North Korea must have nuclear disarmament as the end goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The North indicated on the last day of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang it was ready for talks, according to South Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

North Korea has previously said it will not accept any preconditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We will see if Pyongyang’s message… that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearization,” the US said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reports about the North’s willingness to speak to the US emerged after a meeting of its officials with the South Korean president before the Games’ closing ceremony on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka also attended the ceremony but she is not expected to talk with any North Koreans, even though she sat a few feet from their main envoy, Gen Kim Yong-chol, at the Olympic Stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n

North Korea’s mixed messages<\/span><\/p>\n

North Korea was “very willing” to hold talks with the US, said the office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.<\/span><\/p>\n

It added that the North had “agreed that inter-Korea talks and North-US relations should improve together”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The revelation from the South Korean presidency came hours after a furious statement from the North that described fresh sanctions announced by Washington as “an act of war”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pyongyang’s foreign ministry praised the way the two Koreas had co-operated together during the Olympics but said the US had “brought the threat of war to the Korean peninsula with large-scale new sanctions”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Korean peninsula has been divided since the 1950-53 war and the two sides have never signed a peace treaty.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rapprochement between the two Koreas has been seen as a move by the North to drive a wedge between the South and the US.<\/span><\/p>\n

Experts have cautioned that the latest developments do not put an end to underlying regional tensions, particularly following last year’s nuclear and missile tests carried out by the North.<\/span><\/p>\n

Could there be a breakthrough this time?<\/span><\/p>\n

South Korean media is abuzz with suggestions that North-US talks could still take place while the respective delegations are in town.<\/span><\/p>\n

The BBC’s Laura Bicker, in Pyeongchang, asked an official from South’s government if the meeting could take place in the next two days, and the answer was: “We will see.”<\/span><\/p>\n

North Korea has sent an eight-person team across the border, including Gen Kim Choe Kang-il, a senior diplomat handling North American affairs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Allison Hooker – a Koreas specialist from the US National Security Council – is part of the US delegation. She met Gen Kim in 2014 in North Korea, as the US tried to free two American detainees.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scene could be set for a more low-key meeting than a failed attempt with US Vice-President Mike Pence.<\/span><\/p>\n

He had been set to meet Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean President Kim Jong-un, at the start of the Games but the meeting was cancelled inexplicably by the North Koreans, according to the US officials. North Korea made no comment.<\/span><\/p>\n

N Korea leader’s sister takes ‘real power’ south<\/span><\/p>\n

There has been no official interaction between North Korea and the Trump administration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-43189691<\/span><\/p>\n

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