North Korea and US nuclear talks break down in less than a day
The nuclear talks restarted in Sweden earlier on Saturday after months of stalemate. …
Image copyright Reuters North Korea says working-level nuclear talks with the US have been called off, on the same day they restarted.
US and North Korean officials met in Sweden on Saturday, in the hope of breaking their stalemate.
“The negotiations have not fulfilled our expectation and finally broke off,” North Korea’s top nuclear envoy Kim Myong Gil.
The meeting came just days after North Korea tested a new missile, in a significant step up from earlier tests.
It was set to be the first formal working-level discussion since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met briefly at the inter-Korean border zone in June.
Neither of the leaders was present in Sweden, instead initial discussions were being handled by North Korea’s Kim Myong Gil and US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun.
What was expected?
Many observers saw the fresh talks as an opening move to another Trump-Kim summit.
The two have held two summits so far. The first one in Singapore in 2018 resulted in a vague denuclearisation agreement which led to little concrete results.
The second summit in Vietnam in February 2019 ended early without any agreement.
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Didn’t North Korea just test a missile?
Just this Thursday, North Korea confirmed it test-fired a new type of a ballistic missile, a significant escalation from the short-range tests it has conducted since May.
The missile – able to carry a nuclear weapon – was the North’s 11th test this year. Fired from a platform at sea, it appears to be capable of being launched from a submarine, which means North Korea could potentially launch missiles far outside its territory.
Analysts said North Korean might have been seeking to build up pressure ahead of the talks.
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