US diplomats are to meet Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator, in New York for the first talks in two years, a move that could herald the start of further engagement with Pyongyang.
However, Washington remains highly doubtful about the prospects for any meaningful progress with Kim Jong-il’s regime, which has broken all previous agreements, using talks as a way to extract rewards.
“This is an opportunity for the administration to explore whether they are sincere, but there is no interest in going back to the old game of offering North Korea things and then the North Koreans reneging on their commitments,” said Evans Revere, a former US negotiator with North Korea, who will take part in “track two” talks with Kim Kye-gwan on Monday.