South Korea's top nuclear envoy says North Korea and the United States are very close to resuming nuclear negotaitions and are communicating through their dialogue channel.<br />Lee Do-hoon, who is in Washington, also says the North is now more focused on getting a security guarantee from the U.S. rather than sanctions relief.<br />Oh Jung-hee reports.<br />South Korea's nuclear envoy expects North Korea and the United States to resume their nuclear negotiations within this month.<br />Arriving in Washington for talks with his U.S. counterpart and other officials, Seoul's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, Lee Do-hoon, told reporters:<br />"On September 9th, the North's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said Pyeongyang is returning to talks. Therefore, the talks are likely to take place soon."<br />He added... the so-called 'New York channel' is always open so the North and the U.S. can communicate whenever they want to.<br />The 'New York channel' refers to discussions between the North Korean mission to the UN and the U.S. State Department.<br />Seoul's nuclear envoy highlighted that the U.S. wants to first sit down with North Korea and have a candid dialogue on what exactly the regime wants.<br />Since April, Pyeongyang has been demanding that Washington come up with what it calls a "new calculation."<br />That "new calculation" has been thought as sanctions relief... but earlier this week, a senior North Korean diplomat wrote in a statement... that the regime wants a security guarantee.<br />"Recently, North Korea has shifted its focus from lifting sanctions to getting a security guarantee. We are communicating and analyzing a lot with the U.S."<br />The U.S. has recently been signalling North Korea that it's ready to talk, with its nuclear envoy continuously stressing that Washington is willing to be flexible in these negotiations.<br />President Trump also said Wednesday that a "new method" could be very good for talks with North Korea, criticizing his former National Security Advisor John Bolton and the so-called Libyan model he promoted.<br />Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.<br />
