U.S. and North Korea Are to Resume Missile Talks
The United States said Wednesday that missile talks with North Korea will resume next month in Malaysia after a 15-month hiatus.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher made the announcement during Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s Middle East trip.
Albright traveled to South Korea last week to find out how the first North-South summit had gone, and her earlier stop in China also focused on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s recent visit there.
U.S. officials had already said that the resumption of talks could be announced during her round-the-world trip, which ends in Berlin today.
“The United States and North Korea will hold missile talks on July 10-12 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,” Boucher said in a statement.
North Korea confirmed last week that it was keeping in place a moratorium on missile testing agreed to in September.
The U.S. delegation will be led by Robert Einhorn, assistant secretary of State for nonproliferation. The leading North Korean delegate will be Jang Chang Chon, director general for U.S. affairs at the Foreign Ministry, Boucher said.
The talks will address the development, deployment, testing and export of North Korean missiles, one of which the Pyongyang regime test-fired in August 1998.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
