U.S., North Korea in talks to exchange diplomatic liaison officers, sources say

U.S., North Korea in talks to exchange diplomatic liaison officers, sources say

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNN) – The United States and North Korea appear to be trying to make a diplomatic breakthrough.

Two sources with knowledge of the discussions say the two countries are talking about the possibility of exchanging liaison officers.

Such a move could begin the establishment of so-called “interest sections” in each other’s countries. An agreement to do just that was actually made back in 1994 and the U.S. went as far as to sign a lease for space in North Korea.

But North Korea called it off a year later, likely due to escalating tensions between the two countries.

Word of a new effort at diplomacy comes as President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un prepare for their second summit in Vietnam later this month.

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 Note: By commenting below you agree to abide by the KOBI5.com commenting guidelines. View the KOBI5.com Comment Board Guidelines » </s> (CNN) The US and North Korea are seriously considering exchanging liaison officers, an incremental step towards building formal diplomatic relations, two sources with knowledge of the discussions told CNN.

News of the discussions comes days ahead of President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's second summit, which is set to take place in Vietnam at the end of the month.

Trump and Kim met in Singapore last year, and both leaders there signed a joint statement that included commitments from each country "to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity."

This statement left the door open to some kind of re-establishment of formal relations if things were to go well, the sources said, adding that the current stalemate has left North Korea expecting some significant gesture on the part of the US.

The two high-level diplomatic sources said the first step forward could be the exchange of officers. On the US side, sources said there would be several liasion officers sent to set up office in North Korea, led by a senior foreign service officer who speaks Korean, if this plan were to move forward.

Read More </s> What US liaison office in North Korea could mean

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday both said they support the opening of a U.S. liaison office in Pyongyang.

If the office opened, it would be the first of its kind between the wartime foes and could be a preliminary step toward normalizing their relations once the U.S. feels North Korea no longer poses any significant threat.

Here's a look at what opening a liaison office could mean for ties between the two countries:

Asked by an American reporter at their second summit in Hanoi if he was willing to allow the U.S. to open an office in Pyongyang, Kim said through a translator, "I think that is something which is welcomable."

Trump said that he considers it "a good idea" and that it should happen "both ways," suggesting he wants North Korea to open its own liaison office in Washington. No further details were available.

Many outside experts had said the opening of a liaison office was among possible things Trump could offer to persuade Kim to promise firmer denuclearization measures in Hanoi.

The North has complained about the lack of action taken by the U.S. since their first summit in June, when Kim and Trump agreed to establish new relations and build a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. has been pushing for North Korea to take substantial disarmament steps before getting any serious concessions.

The two countries have no embassies in each other's capitals because they have no diplomatic ties. They are actually in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Sweden, which has an embassy in Pyongyang, has offered consular services for U.S. citizens, including those who had been detained in the North on charges of illegally entering the country or engaging in espionage acts.

The North Korean mission at the United Nations in New York has also provided a back-channel negotiation option for the two countries.

It's not the first time the countries have floated the idea of a liaison office as way to improve ties.

In 1994, when the U.S. and North Korea signed a now-defunct landmark disarmament-for-aid deal, they vowed to open liaison offices and reduce barriers to investment and ultimately have ambassador-level relations. But the idea was shelved after a nuclear crisis erupted again in 2002, with U.S. officials accusing North Korea of running a covert uranium-enrichment program in violation of the 1994 deal.

The U.S. could look to South Korea as an example. North Korea and South Korea opened an inter-Korean liaison office last September at the North's border town of Kaesong as part of a flurry of reconciliation steps.

It is the first such Korean office since the peninsula was split into a U.S.-backed, capitalistic South and a Soviet-supported, socialist North in 1945. The Koreas had previously used telephone and fax-like communication channels that were often shut down in times of high tension.

South Korean officials work at the office and regularly hold meetings with North Korean officials. They sleep at nearby lodgings and take turns staffing the office on weekends.

The town is where the Korea's now-stalled jointly run factory complex was located. It combined South Korean initiatives, capital and technology with North Korea's cheap labor. Both Koreas want the U.S. to allow sanctions exemptions to allow the reopening of the factory park, which provided the North with much-needed foreign currency. </s> South Korean police officers stand guard in front of Japanese embassy as a rally demanding the South Korean government to abolish the General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA, an intelligence-sharing agreement between South Korea and Japan, is held near the embassy, in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Thursday it will terminate an intelligence-sharing deal with Japan that focused on classified information about North Korea, a surprise announcement that is likely to set back U.S. efforts to bolster security cooperation with two of its most important allies in the Asian region.

South Korea attributed the decision to its bitter trade dispute with Japan, which has plunged the two countries’ relations to their lowest point since they established diplomatic ties in 1965. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono called the decision “extremely regrettable” and summoned the South Korean ambassador to protest the linking of trade and security issues.

The U.S. expressed disappointment in the decision. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. hopes that “each of those two countries can begin to put that relationship back in exactly the right place.” The U.S. is urging Japan and South Korea to continue to talk, he said.

Many experts had predicted that South Korea would be unlikely to spike the 3-year-old intelligence-sharing deal for the sake of its relations with the United States. South Korea has been seeking U.S. help in resolving the trade dispute, and Seoul and Washington have also been working together to restart stalled talks on stripping North Korea of its nuclear weapons.

South Korea’s presidential office said it terminated the intelligence deal because Japan’s recent decision to downgrade South Korea’s trade status caused a “grave” change in security cooperation between the countries.

“Under this situation, the government has determined that maintaining the agreement, which was signed for the purpose of exchanging sensitive military intelligence on security, does not serve our national interests,” Kim You-geun, the deputy director of South Korea’s presidential national security office, said in a nationally televised statement.

He said South Korea would formally notify Japan of its decision before Saturday, the deadline for an extension of the pact for another year.

Japanese Foreign Minister Kono said in a statement that the decision “was an action that completely misjudged the current security environment in the region and is extremely regrettable.”

He said South Korea’s linking of trade and security was “absolutely unacceptable, and we firmly protest to the South Korean government.”

Since early last month, Japan has imposed stricter controls on exports to South Korea of three chemicals essential for manufacturing semiconductors and display screens — key export items for South Korea — and decided to remove South Korea from a list of countries granted preferential trade status.

South Korea accuses Japan of weaponizing trade to punish it over a separate dispute linked to Japan’s brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Japan denies that, saying its steps were taken because of unspecified security concerns.

The Japanese trade curbs triggered an outburst of anti-Japan sentiment in South Korea. Many South Korean citizens rallied in the streets, canceled planned holiday trips to Japan and launched widespread boycotts of Japanese beer, clothes and other products. The South Korean government, for its part, decided to downgrade Japan’s trade status.

Some experts say the tit-for-tat actions could eventually hurt South Korea’s economy more than Tokyo’s. Many big South Korean manufacturers including Samsung rely heavily on materials and components imported from Japan, while Japan doesn’t import many vital materials from South Korea.

Liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who earlier declared his country would “never again lose” to Japan, used the Aug. 15 anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan to extend an olive branch. Moon said Seoul will “gladly join hands” if Tokyo wanted to talk.

The Pentagon on Thursday expressed “strong concern and disappointment” in the collapse of the agreement.

“We strongly believe that the integrity of our mutual defense and security ties must persist despite frictions in other areas” of the South Korea-Japan relationship,” said Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman. “We’ll continue to pursue bilateral and trilateral defense and security cooperation where possible.”

On Wednesday, the top U.S. envoy on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, told reporters in Seoul that he appreciated what he called “strong and continued cooperation between the U.S., South Korea and Japan.”

The intelligence deal went into effect in 2016, reportedly at the strong urging of the United States, which wants to boost three-day security cooperation to better cope with North Korea’s nuclear threat and a rising China. The United States stations a total of 80,000 troops in the two Asian countries, the core of America’s military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Experts said the deal enabled a quicker exchange of information between Seoul and Tokyo, because they had previously exchanged intelligence via the United States. In 2012, the countries nearly forged a similar deal but it was scrapped at the last minute following a vehement backlash in South Korea.

However, it is unclear how effective the deal has been for both countries, especially on intelligence on North Korea, one of the world’s most secretive countries. But there has been a general consensus that South Korea needed information gathered by Japanese satellites and other high-tech systems, while Japan enjoyed signal, voice and human intelligence from South Korea.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday that it will try to maintain a “stable and perfect combined security posture” with the United States regardless of the termination of the intelligence deal. It called the South Korean-U.S. alliance “powerful.”

South Korean government and ruling party officials have publicly questioned how Seoul could share intelligence with a country that questioned Seoul’s handling of sensitive materials imported from Japan. Without providing concrete evidence, some Japanese officials including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have suggested that some critical Japanese materials with potential military applications exported to South Korea may have reached North Korea. Seoul flatly denies that.

The fate of the deal had divided people in South Korea. Some argued that South Korea should do whatever it could to inflict pain on Japan, and that just floating the idea of ending the intelligence deal could force the United States to persuade Japan to lift its trade curbs. But some stressed that the deal’s cancellation would impair relations with the United States at a time when South Korea faces many security challenges including the stalemated North Korean nuclear talks.

Moon’s government has lobbied hard to facilitate talks between the U.S. and North Korea on the nuclear crisis. But the diplomacy has remained largely stalemated for months, and North Korea now says it won’t go through South Korea to talk to the United States. The North recently test-fired a series of short-range missiles and other weapons capable of striking much of South Korea.

Last month, a Russian military plane allegedly violated South Korean airspace in the first such trespassing by a foreign warplane since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Russian and Chinese warplanes allegedly also made a highly unusual joint entrance to South Korea’s air defense identification zone, in what analysts said was an attempt to see how the Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation worked.

South Korea’s main conservative opposition party accused the Moon government of confusing “genuine courage” with “foolhardy courage.” The Liberty Korea Party said security coordination with Washington and Japan needed to be solidified in the face of strengthening cooperation among Russia, China and North Korea.

“We would have lots of things to lose from the deal’s termination,” said analyst Go Myong-Hyun of the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “If the U.S. turned its back on South Korea, we would be completely isolated in Northeast Asia.”

On Thursday evening, about 30 anti-Tokyo activists gathered near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to welcome the intelligence deal’s termination. Jubilant participants held placards that read “The scrapping of the South Korea-Japan deal is a people’s victory.”

Associated Press journalists Lee Jin-man in Seoul, South Korea, and Mari Yamaguchi and Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report. </s> WASHINGTON: The United States and South Korea have agreed to indefinitely suspend two exchange program training exercises, the Pentagon said on Friday, in the aftermath of the summit earlier this month between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.



“To support implementing the outcomes of the Singapore Summit, and in coordination with our Republic of Korea ally, Secretary Mattis has indefinitely suspended select exercises,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said on Friday.

“This includes suspending FREEDOM GUARDIAN along with two Korean Marine Exchange Program training exercises scheduled to occur in the next three months,” White said.

The United States and South Korea earlier this week announced the suspension of planning for Freedom Guardian. </s> The United States and South Korea have agreed to indefinitely suspend two exchange program training exercises, the Pentagon said on Friday, in the aftermath of the summit earlier this month between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The exercise known as Freedom Guardian has already been suspended but two Korean marine exchange program training exercises scheduled for the next three months would also be put on ice, a spokeswoman said.

Regarding suspension of the exercises, South Korea’s defence ministry said: “South Korea and the US decided to delay two of KMEP (drills) indefinitely, which was going to take place within the next three months.

“This is a part of follow-up measures after the North Korea-US summit and South Korea-North Korea summit. There could be additional measures should North Korea follow suit with productive cooperation.”

At a news conference after the meeting with Kim in Singapore, Trump announced that he would halt what he called “very provocative” and expensive regular military exercises that the United States holds with South Korea. North Korea had long sought an end to the war games.

Earlier this week, the United States and South Korea said they were suspending planning for August’s Freedom Guardian exercise.

Last year, 17,500 American troops and more than 50,000 South Korean troops joined the Freedom Guardian drills, although the exercise is mostly focused on computerised simulations rather than field exercises.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, played down the significance of suspending the Korean Marine Exchange Program training exercises, saying they were relatively minor.

US defence secretary James Mattis met with secretary of state Mike Pompeo, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Joseph Dunford and Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton on Friday, the Pentagon said.

“In support of upcoming diplomatic negotiations led by Secretary Pompeo, additional decisions will depend upon the DPRK continuing to have productive negotiations in good faith,” she added.

Every spring, the United States and South Korea conduct Foal Eagle and Max Thunder drills, both of which wrapped up in May.

The decision to halt military exercises with South Korea baffled allies, military officials and lawmakers. The drills help keep US forces at a state of readiness in one of the world’s most tense flash points. </s> Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The United Nations Command in South Korea made direct working-level contact with North Korea at Panmunjom on Tuesday to return what has been identified as a North Korea body.

The body had drifted across the maritime border to South Korea in 2017, floating past the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong-do, Yonhap reported.

Yeongpyeong-do is the island that was bombarded by North Korean artillery shells in 2010, killing four South Koreans and injuring 19.

"The U.N. Command and the North Korean military made working-level contact in order to repatriate the body of a North Korean resident, found last year by the South Korean navy near Yeonpyeong," an unidentified South Korean military official told Yonhap.

The North Koreans responded to the communication and the U.N. Commmand transferred the body to the North on Tuesday, the South Korean official said.

Working-level contact was successfully made between the two sides for the first time since July 16, when U.S. and North Korean officials held working-level talks regarding the return of U.S. troop remains from the 1950-53 Korean War.

The North Korean response to the U.N. Command marks progress -- previous calls to discuss the body's repatriation was turned down, according to Yonhap.

There are about 28,000 U.S. troops on the peninsula.

Easing of tensions has not meant a reduction in the number of U.S. military personnel, many of them who have relocated from the U.S. Eighth Army headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

Yonhap reported the defense authorization bill U.S. President Trump signed Monday includes restrictions against U.S. troop drawdown on the Korean Peninsula.

Trump said the $717 billion bill is the "most significant investment" in the U.S. military historically. </s> The United States and South Korea have agreed to indefinitely suspend two exchange program training exercises, the Pentagon said on Friday, in the aftermath of the summit earlier this month between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"To support implementing the outcomes of the Singapore Summit, and in coordination with our Republic of Korea ally, Secretary Mattis has indefinitely suspended select exercises," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said.

"This includes suspending FREEDOM GUARDIAN along with two Korean Marine Exchange Program training exercises scheduled to occur in the next three months," White said.

Regarding suspension of the exercises, South Korea's defense ministry said, "South Korea and the US decided to delay two of KMEP (drills) indefinitely, which was going to take place within the next three months.

"This is a part of follow-up measures after the North Korea-US summit and South Korea-North Korea summit. There could be additional measures should North Korea follow suit with productive cooperation.â€

At a news conference after the meeting with Kim in Singapore, Trump announced that he would halt what he called â€œvery provocativeâ€ and expensive regular military exercises that the United States holds with South Korea. North Korea had long sought an end to the war games.

This week, the United States and South Korea said they were suspending planning for August's Freedom Guardian exercise.

Last year, 17,500 American troops and more than 50,000 South Korean troops joined the Freedom Guardian drills, although the exercise is mostly focused on computerized simulations rather than field exercises.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, played down the significance of suspending the Korean Marine Exchange Program training exercises, saying they were relatively minor.

Jim Mattis met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford and Trump's national security adviser John Bolton on Friday, White said.

"In support of upcoming diplomatic negotiations led by Secretary Pompeo, additional decisions will depend upon the DPRK continuing to have productive negotiations in good faith," she added, referring to North Korea.

Every spring, the United States and South Korea conduct Foal Eagle and Max Thunder drills, both of which wrapped up in May.

The decision to halt military exercises with South Korea baffled allies, military officials and lawmakers. The drills help keep US forces at a state of readiness in one of the world‘s most tense flashpoints.

At the Singapore talks, North Korea also agreed to allow the recovery of the remains of soldiers who went missing in action during the Korean War.

On Saturday, the US military began moving caskets to North Korea for the recovery of some remains, the U.N. Command in South Korea said in a statement. </s> South Korea said on Thursday it will scrap an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, a decision that could further escalate a dispute over history and trade and undercut security cooperation on North Korea.

The decision was announced after an hours-long debate within the presidential National Security Council (NSC).

The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) was due to be automatically renewed on Saturday, unless either side decided to cancel it.

Japan created a “grave change” in the environment for bilateral security cooperation by removing South Korea’s fast-track export status, citing security concerns without providing clear evidence, said Kim You-geun, a deputy director of the National Security Council.

“Under this situation, we have determined that it would not serve our national interest to maintain an agreement we signed with the aim of exchanging military information which is sensitive to security,” Kim told a news conference.

South Korea would deliver a formal notice to Japan within the due date, Kim said.

There was no immediate reaction from Tokyo, but Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said before the announcement that the deal bolstered security cooperation between the two countries.

“Although ties between Japan and South Korea are in a very tough situation, we believe we should cooperate with South Korea where cooperation is necessary,” Suga told a regular news conference earlier on Thursday.

The decision is likely to be met with dismay in the United States, which fears weakened security cooperation. The accord is important for efforts to fend off North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

The U.S. envoy on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, raised the issue during a meeting with South Korea’s deputy national security adviser, Kim Hyun-chong, before the NSC gathering.

The United States played a key role in initiating the hard-won GSOMIA, which was clinched in 2016 after a 2012 plan fell apart in the face of domestic opposition in South Korea toward military cooperation with old foe Japan.

Relations between the two U.S. allies are seen at their lowest since they normalised ties in 1965, plagued by bitterness over Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of the Korean peninsula, which included the use of South Korean forced labour at some Japanese firms.

South Korea had warned it could reconsider the GSOMIA after Japan imposed export curbs on some materials vital to South Korean chipmakers and stripped South Korea of fast-track export status.

South Korea called the Japanese action retaliation for a South Korean Supreme Court order for Japanese companies to compensate some of their wartime forced labourers last October.

Japan condemned the ruling, saying the matter was resolved by a 1965 treaty normalising ties. Japan cited unspecified security reasons for the export controls.
The United States is discussing exchanging liaison officers with North Korea.