Washington announced its high-level talks with North Korea is postponed, citing scheduling issues. <br />Today Seoul's foreign minister backed this explanation, and added that Pyeongyang requested the change in date.<br />Lee Ji-won has our top story. <br /> In a meeting Thursday of parliament's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, South Korea's foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said that according to the U.S., the North was the one to ask that the high-level meeting in New York be postponed.<br />It did so, she said, because both sides schedules were full.<br />She added that there may have been some difficulty in terms of time, but that the State Department has publicly and definitively said that it will be held at a later date. <br /><br /> This is in line with what the State Department's Deputy Spokesperson, Robert Palladino, said at a briefing on Wednesday -- that the delay is "purely a scheduling issue."<br /><br /> Secretary Pompeo was to meet the head of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, Kim Yong-chol, in New York on Thursday, but the State Department announced that it was postponed just the day before.<br /><br /> Still, U.S. President Donald Trump appears confident that he will hold his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "early next year". <br /><br /> "Sometime next year, I would say. Sometime early next year."<br /><br />At a press conference after the midterm elections on Wednesday, President Trump fielded questions from reporters at the White House.<br />He confirmed that the change in schedule was due to "trips being made," without much elaboration,... and added that Washington is very happy with how it's going with Pyeongyang.<br /> While emphasizing that he is in no rush,... Trump also mentioned that the sanctions are still on and hinted that North Korea must also be "responsive."<br /><br /> "Now, I'd love to take the sanctions off but they have to be responsive too. It's a two-way street. But we're not in any rush."<br /><br /> But there are concerns that the two sides could be heading for a stalemate again.<br />Reports from South Korea and the U.S., citing foreign affairs sources, say that the meeting was actually postponed because the two sides could not resolve their differences.<br />Lee Ji-won, Arirang News. <br />
