N Korea, US negotiators in Geneva for nuclear talks

SWITZERLAND: North Korean and US negotiators are meeting in Geneva on Monday for direct talks aimed at reviving long-stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations.

While analysts expect no breakthrough during the two-day meeting, they see engagement between the two parties as a positive development and a way to stop Pyongyang from making rash moves.

“The view is that while they are talking, they are not provoking it’s jaw-jaw rather than war-war,” Mark Fitzpatrick, who heads the non-proliferation programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told AFP.

“I don’t think that people will say this is a disaster because there is nothing concrete in terms of results,” he added.

North Korea’s delegation led by first vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan arrived on Saturday, while the US team represented by outgoing special respresentative Stephen Bosworth, as well as his replacement Glyn Davies, checked in on Sunday.

Ahead of the meeting, a senior State Department official said “our concern is that if we don’t engage, that could result in miscalculations by the North Koreans, as we have seen in the past.”

AFP