북미회담까지 2주,... 투트랙 실무협상 속도 낼 듯
Just two weeks left until the 2nd North Korea-U.S. summit.
When preparing for the maiden meeting between the two leaders in Singapore, officials from both sides held talks in the host country to iron out logistics.
Naturally, this time, more working-level sessions are expected to be held to finalize protocol for the big event.
Lee Ji-won explains further.
With only two weeks left until the 2nd North Korea-U.S. summit, the two sides are expected to accelerate their negotiations and preparations.
Washington's Special Representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, said Monday that the agenda for the summit has been set, and that negotiations will start in the next round of talks with his new counterpart, Kim Hyok-chol, the official responsible for U.S. Affairs on the North's State Affairs Commission.
According to South Korea's presidential office, the two sides will resume their talks in a third country in Asia next week.
And these negotiations are expected to continue until the last minute before the summit,... as they did ahead of the first Kim-Trump sitdown last June.
Then, Pyeongyang's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met with Sung Kim, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, 6 times in the truce village of Panmunjeom from late May to early June.
They also negotiated until the night before the leaders met.
While Biegun and Kim will focus on the actual negotiations, another track is likely to be launched soon for logistics.
That was the case back in Singapore.
Two weeks prior to that summit, the director of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, Kim Chang-son, met in the host country with Joe Hagin, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, and got started on protocol and logistics.
Kim Chang-son is likely to handle those issues again this time, but it's unclear whether the U.S. role will be taken by the current White House official incharge of operations, Daniel Walsh.
And through their meetings, it's expected that the venue for the summit will be finalized... which, in the case of the first summit, happened only a week before D-day.
These officials will also visit the local hotels for their leaders,... which are, as of now, widely believed to be the Melia Hanoi for Chairman Kim and the JW Marriott for President Trump.
Meanwhile, Vietnam's foreign minister and its protocol chief are in Pyeongyang right now at the invitation of the North's foreign minister... possibly touching on the logistics preparations ahead.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.
