Senior N. Korean diplomat set for 'Track 2' talks with U.S. experts

SEOUL/WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (Yonhap) -- A senior North Korean diplomat handling U.S. affairs is set to hold talks with American experts in Europe, but the meeting is nothing out of the ordinary, South Korea's foreign ministry said Tuesday. "Our government is aware of the North Korean foreign ministry Director General for North American affairs Choe Son-hui's layover at Beijing en route to a European country where a (non-governmental) track-two meeting with U.S. experts is reportedly scheduled," ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said in a press briefing. Japan's Kyodo News reported earlier in the day that Choe arrived in Beijing to head to Geneva for what would be the first such meeting since Donald Trump was elected president. In Washington, multiple sources said that former State Department official Joel Wit, currently editor of the website 38 North, will be leading the U.S. team of experts. Further details were not available, including who else will also be attending. Observers in South Korea said the rare meeting would help North Korea explore the U.S. North Korea policy direction under the incoming Trump administration, including possibly Pyongyang's chance for negotiations with Washington over its nuclear program. "Any track-two talks between the U.S. and North Korea are non-governmental level talks that have nothing to do with the U.S. government," Cho stressed, dismissing the allegations of official North Korea-U.S. talks. "This kind of track-two meeting has often taken place in the past and is not meaningful by any measure." Seoul and Washington unwaveringly share the stance that any talks with North Korea in the absence of the North's intention for denuclearization would only help justify the communist country's bad behavior, he also said, reaffirming the allies' concerted hard-line policy. "Our government has been forming a shared understanding with President-elect Donald Trump's diplomacy and security personnel that strong sanctions and pressure should continue against North Korea," he noted. The U.S. State Department also downplayed the significance of the upcoming meeting. "Track 2 meetings are routinely held on a variety of topics around the world and occur independent of U.S. government involvement," State Department spokeswoman Anna Richey-Allen said. She said the U.S. remains open to dialogue with the North, with the aim of returning to credible and authentic negotiations on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. "But the onus is on North Korea to take meaningful actions toward denuclearization and refrain from provocations," she said. The planned meeting comes less than a month after another group of U.S. experts met with senior North Korean diplomats. A two-day non-governmental meeting last month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, brought North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol and his delegation face-to-face with a four-member U.S. delegation that included Robert Gallucci, the lead negotiator for a landmark 1994 nuclear freeze deal with Pyongyang, as well as former U.S. deputy nuclear negotiator Joseph R. DeTrani. But Washington downplayed the meetings as an unofficial event devoid of any U.S. government involvement, reiterating the official government stance that there will be no talks until Pyongyang demonstrates its denuclearization commitment. Participants said later that the North Korean officials repeated the country's long-running claims during last week's talks with former U.S. officials that it needs nuclear weapons to cope with what it claims the U.S. "hostile policy" towards the country. pbr@yna.co.kr (END)