U.S. express strong support for inter-Korean railway project during its first working group meeting with South Korea in Washington on Tuesday
- 5 years ago
한미 '워킹그룹' 첫 회의, 이도훈 "美, 남북 철도연결 공동조사 강력하고 전폭적인 지지"
Seoul and Washington's new working group on North Korea officially launched on Tuesday.
Members were set to touch on a number of agendas on Pyeongyang affairs.
What stood out most was talks on inter-Korean cooperation,... including the road and rail project which was met with positive response from the United States.
Lee Ji-won has the highlights from that session.
The U.S. says it strongly supports the inter-Korean project to link railways and roads.
That's according to South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon, who spoke to South Korean reporters after holding the first meeting of the newly established working group on Tuesday.
At the first round of meetings, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun allegedly said that Washington supports the project, adding that it is not a matter of getting approval from the U.S..
There was a widespread view that the inter-Korean projects, including the rail and road links, are much more developed than the denuclearization talks, leading to concern by Washington over the joint efforts to continue sanctions on the regime.
A senior South Korean official familiar with the working group added that the two sides exchanged a lot of details on the technical aspects of the project, including how to work it out within the framework of the sanctions.
He also said that everything else has been settled, and that the South Korean government maintains its goal to have the ground-breaking ceremony for connecting and modernizing railways and roads within this year, as agreed in the third inter-Korean summit in September.
The official also added that the first meeting covered all of the working group's goals -- cooperation in diplomacy, denuclearization efforts, the implementation of UN sanctions and ways in which the two Koreas can work together within the framework of such sanctions.
The two sides allegedly exchanged developments on the ongoing North Korea-U.S. talks and the next steps they should take as well.
And on the postponed high-level talks between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his North Korean counterpart, the official said it is still being discussed and that Washington hopes to go through with the second Kim-Trump summit early next year.
The South Korean and U.S. officials agreed to hold the working level meeting more regularly to further improve their coordination.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.
Seoul and Washington's new working group on North Korea officially launched on Tuesday.
Members were set to touch on a number of agendas on Pyeongyang affairs.
What stood out most was talks on inter-Korean cooperation,... including the road and rail project which was met with positive response from the United States.
Lee Ji-won has the highlights from that session.
The U.S. says it strongly supports the inter-Korean project to link railways and roads.
That's according to South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon, who spoke to South Korean reporters after holding the first meeting of the newly established working group on Tuesday.
At the first round of meetings, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun allegedly said that Washington supports the project, adding that it is not a matter of getting approval from the U.S..
There was a widespread view that the inter-Korean projects, including the rail and road links, are much more developed than the denuclearization talks, leading to concern by Washington over the joint efforts to continue sanctions on the regime.
A senior South Korean official familiar with the working group added that the two sides exchanged a lot of details on the technical aspects of the project, including how to work it out within the framework of the sanctions.
He also said that everything else has been settled, and that the South Korean government maintains its goal to have the ground-breaking ceremony for connecting and modernizing railways and roads within this year, as agreed in the third inter-Korean summit in September.
The official also added that the first meeting covered all of the working group's goals -- cooperation in diplomacy, denuclearization efforts, the implementation of UN sanctions and ways in which the two Koreas can work together within the framework of such sanctions.
The two sides allegedly exchanged developments on the ongoing North Korea-U.S. talks and the next steps they should take as well.
And on the postponed high-level talks between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his North Korean counterpart, the official said it is still being discussed and that Washington hopes to go through with the second Kim-Trump summit early next year.
The South Korean and U.S. officials agreed to hold the working level meeting more regularly to further improve their coordination.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.