North Korea looks to get China, Russia on side before denuclearisation talks with US
Pyongyang’s vice-foreign minister Choe Son-hui to hold talks in Beijing and Moscow, Korean Central News Agency says
North Korea will look to consolidate support for the lifting of economic sanctions during its latest talks with China and Russia, while also strengthening its bargaining position on the denuclearisation issue ahead of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang this weekend, observers said.
Choe Son-hui, North Korea’s vice-foreign minister who is responsible for handling negotiations with the US on denuclearisation, left Pyongyang on Thursday, according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency.
She was expected to hold talks with officials in Beijing before heading to Moscow for more of the same, the report said, adding that representatives of all three countries would then sit down together. It did not elaborate.
The announcement was made ahead of Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang on Sunday, where he is expected to negotiate a deal with North Korean officials on the details of the denuclearisation process.
Wi Sung-rak, a former South Korean ambassador to Russia and visiting professor at Seoul National University, said that bringing an end to the sanctions on Pyongyang – imposed both by the United States unilaterally and the United Nations as a whole – was favourite to top the agenda for the trilateral talks.