South Korean media closely follow the DPRK-US Beijing talks

by coenaijj1928 on 2012-02-23 19:31:51

BEIJING, February 21 (Xinhua News Agency) -- According to reports from the Korean Central News Agency on February 21, the North Korean negotiation delegation, led by Kim Kye Gwan, First Vice Foreign Minister of North Korea, left Pyongyang on the 21st. It is reported that Kim Kye Gwan has already arrived in Beijing in the afternoon of the same day. According to a statement issued last week by the US Department of State, North Korea and the United States will hold the third high-level dialogue in Beijing on the 23rd. The leader of the US delegation, US Special Representative for North Korea Policy, Mr. Davis, is expected to arrive in Beijing on the morning of the 22nd. The dialogue to be held in Beijing is the first high-level talks between North Korea and the United States after the passing of the former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and it is considered by public opinion as the turning point for restarting the Six-Party Talks. After the announcement of the date of the North Korea-US talks, it triggered continuous high attention from South Korea. South Korea's KBS TV station analyzed that this round of talks may specifically discuss the implementation details of the US food aid plan to North Korea and the early resumption of the Six-Party Talks. Yonhap News Agency quoted a South Korean diplomatic person as saying that South Korea currently neither optimistic nor pessimistic about whether an agreement would be reached or announced at the North Korea-US talks. South Korean media also analyzed whether North Korea under Kim Jong-un's leadership would show more "flexibility" in diplomacy. South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo analyzed through the North Korean New Year editorial in 2012 that North Korea once again confirmed its policy of "engaging with the US while isolating South Korea," which means rejecting South Korea while improving relations with the US. South Korean government officials interpreted North Korea's tough stance towards South Korea as being "to consolidate internal unity." On February 20th, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade revealed that after concluding the North Korea-US dialogue, Mr. Davis would visit South Korea on the 25th and meet with Lim Sung-nam, head of the South Korean delegation of the Six-Party Talks, to exchange views on issues such as the restart plan for the Six-Party Talks. Afterwards, Mr. Davis would fly to Japan to hold talks with Sugiyama Jinzo, head of the Japanese delegation of the Six-Party Talks. On February 20th, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that China welcomes the third high-level dialogue between North Korea and the United States in Beijing and hopes for positive results from the dialogue. China is willing to create conditions for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks. Since 2003, the Six-Party Talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, involving North Korea, South Korea, China, the United States, Russia, and Japan, have held multiple rounds of talks, but the negotiations fell into a deadlock after December 2008. In July and October 2011, North Korea and the United States held two high-level talks in New York and Geneva respectively.