The Korea Herald

지나쌤

N. Korea's nuclear envoy arrives in Beijing for security forum

By 임정요

Published : June 20, 2016 - 13:10

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A North Korean nuclear envoy arrived in Beijing on Monday to attend an annual security conference that brings together government officials and scholars from all six nations involved in the long-stalled negotiations about the North's nuclear weapons program.

Choe Son-hui, deputy director for North American affairs at North Korea's foreign ministry, did not make any remarks upon her arrival at the Beijing airport.

Choe is scheduled to attend the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue that will start its three-day run from Tuesday.

The top U.S. envoy on North Korea policy, Sung Kim, is also slated to attend the forum.

Organized by the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation of the University of California, San Diego, the NEACD has served as an opportunity for informal dialogue between North Korea and its nuclear negotiation partners -- South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

North Korea, which conducted its fourth nuclear test in January this year, did not attend the NEACD in 2014 and 2015.

The six-party talks were last held in late 2008 and diplomatic efforts to resume the negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions have produced little results, as the North showed no signs of giving up its nuclear weapons program.

Earlier this month, the International Atomic Energy Agency warned that North Korea appears to have restarted its main nuclear bomb fuel plant.

If the warning by the IAEA is correct, it would be the latest move by North Korea in expanding its nuclear weapons program, despite tightened international sanctions.  (Yonhap)