The United States and North Korea are slowly working their way toward formal diplomatic relations while considering the exchange of liaison officers, two diplomatic sources with knowledge of the discusses have told CNN.
Discussions are moving forward, the TV news network reported, just days prior to a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam at month’s end.
During last June’s Singapore summit both leaders 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,” CNN reported.
The statement added the incentive for some kind of reestablishment of formal relations if things were to go well, the network reported, adding the current stalemate leaves North Korea expecting a significant gesture by the U.S.
If the plan were to proceed, the report said, the first step would be the exchange of officers. For the U.S., that step would ultimately involve several liaison officers sent to set up office in North Korea, led by a senior foreign service officer who speaks Korean.
In 1994, both sides pursued a similar agreement , CNN reported, with the "Agreed Framework" leading to extensive negotiating over exchanging liaison offices in each country, beginning with up to seven officers in each. At that time, the US even went so far as to sign a lease for space in the German mission. North Korea also looked at possible sites in Washington, DC.
But by the end of 1995, however, North Korea canceled the whole plan, believed to be because of tensions following the shooting down of a US helicopter when it crossed over the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea, at the end of 1994, the report said.
Photo:
AP / Evan Vucci
