North Korea announces date for fresh talks with US

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL (AA) – Talks between North Korea and the U.S., will resume by the end of this week, a senior Pyongyang official revealed on Tuesday.

Quoting First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, the North's official KCNA news agency reported that an official-level dialogue was expected on Oct. 4, to resume “preliminary contact".

Both sides will hold working-level talks a day later, said the official.

Officials from two countries will be meeting first time since February, when the U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un ended their summit abruptly in Vietnam without a deal.

On June 30, Trump and his North Korean counterpart met again at the Korean Demilitarized Zone joined by the South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in in a three-way gathering. The leaders had agreed to restart negotiations for the Korean denuclearization process.

Pyongyang appears to have been persuaded by Trump's recent claim that he is ready to approach negotiations with a "new method”.

He was seen reluctant to give in to the North's demand for relief in sanctions ahead of gradual denuclearization process.

"It is my expectation that the working-level negotiations would accelerate the positive development of the DPRK-U.S. relations," Choe was quoted as saying, referring to North Korea as the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea).