N. Korea diplomat to attend meeting in Finland ahead of US talks

A meeting attended by a senior North Korea diplomat, former US officials and academics from South Korea and the US is set to kick off Tuesday in Finland, which could mark a chance to explore the North’s sincerity about its denuclearization pledges and talks with the US.

Choe Kang-il, deputy director general for North American affairs at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, arrived in Helsinki, Finland, to attend a dinner with the Finnish government on Monday and a two-day meeting with former US officials including former US ambassadors to South Korea Kathleen Stephens and Thomas Hubbard.

The meeting comes as South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump are preparing to hold respective summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in April and in May.

The North is expected to use the meeting to examine to what extent concessions will be possible and what it could gain in the upcoming denuclearization talks with the US and South Korea, observers say.

North Korea has yet to make an official comment on the proposed summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un. Kim’s invitation to Trump for talks on denuclearization was verbally delivered by South Korean officials during their trip to the US earlier this month. Trump accepted the invitation.

The delegation from the US in Helsinki includes the former US envoys to South Korea -- Stephens and Hubbard -- as well as American scholars Bob Carlin, John Delury and Karl Eikenberry. From South Korea, Shin Kak-soo, former ambassador to Japan, Shin Jung-seung, former ambassador to China, and Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the Institute for Far East Studies of Kyungnam University, are to join the meeting.

Finland‘s Foreign Ministry appeared to downplay the meaning of the meeting, calling it a “routine meeting” on the North Korean issue, Agence France-Presse reported.

Momentum for talks between the US and North Korea appears to be in full swing.

North Korea‘s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho discussed the release of three Americans -- Kim Hak-song, Kim Sang-duk and Kim Dong-chul -- detained in the North with his Swedish counterpart in a three-day trip to Sweden that ended Saturday, CNN reported.

Sweden’s foreign minister said that they had discussed the “opportunities and challenges for continued diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful solution” to the North Korea nuclear issue.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha held a meeting with her Swedish counterpart, Margot Wallstrom, Sunday on the sidelines of the informal council of European Union’s foreign ministers meeting in Belgium, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry. She was briefed on the Swedish top diplomat’s meeting with Ri.

According to Seoul‘s top diplomat, North Korean leader Kim is serious about his commitment to denuclearization.

“He’s given his word. But the significance of his word is quite weighty in the sense that this is the first time that the words came directly from the North Korean supreme leader himself, and that has never been done before,” she said during an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday.

Kang was in Washington for a three-day trip through Saturday to meet American congressional and administration officials and discuss summit plans for Moon and Trump with Kim.

(laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)