No Substantial Headway from Trilateral Talks

The trilateral meeting between North Korea, the U.S. and China on the North Korean nuclear issue ended on April 25 without many gains though a schedule was set for meetings in the future.

North Korea and the U.S. were not able to narrow basic differences in their views on the issue of eliminating North Korea’s nuclear threat and guaranteeing non-aggression on the part of the U.S. Further difficulties are anticipated due to the possibility that the North might actually hold nuclear weapons as was reported during the talks.

Chinese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang-Yi met with North Korean Representative Lee Gun and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly on the last day of the meeting, and agreed to maintain the trilateral diplomatic channels, reported the Chinese Xinhua Network.

“The nuclear issue is such a complicated and sensitive one. It depends on how we deal with the issue, so we should continue to solve the problem in a peaceful manner for the purpose of peace and safety on the Korean Peninsula,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Li Jiaxing in a meeting with the two representatives from the North and the U.S.

Beijing media reported that the three representatives had non-official meetings with each other in Diaoyutai without making much progress.

James Kelly visited Korea on Friday to meet with Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan and Assistant Secretary Lee Soo-hyuk to give the results of the trilateral meeting as well as talk about the North claiming to have nuclear weapons.

In the meantime, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told the visiting French prime minister that the U.S. and North Korea promised to seek peaceful ways to resolve the nuclear issue in the trilateral meeting held in Beijing, according to foreign news sources.

Yoo-Sung Hwang Young-Sik Kim yshwang@donga.com spear@donga.com