Pompeo likely to meet with Kim Yong Chol in late January

Washington and Pyongyang are reportedly in talks to decide the venue for high-level talks to arrange a second summit. Experts say that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korea's senior official Kim Yong Chol will meet again after their canceled meeting in November.

According to multiple sources on Wednesday, the U.S. and North Korea are holding back-channel talks to decide the date and venue for high-level talks to arrange a second summit between the two countries. The two countries might have thought that they should have ministerial level meetings first to discuss the agenda, venue, and date for a second summit as the working-level nuclear negotiations currently remain at an impasse.

“Once the meeting begins, we will know whether the detailed plans for denuclearization, including a denuclearization roadmap will be discussed,” a diplomatic source said. Negotiations between Stephen Biegun, the US special representative to North Korea, and North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Choi Sun Hee are expected to be held in tandem with the high-level talks or afterward.

But some experts predict that high-level talks between the two countries will be held in late January at the earliest because Pompeo is on Middle East tour from Jan. 8 to Jan. 15 and will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland from Jan. 22 to Jan. 25.


lightee@donga.com