(3rd LD) Top security official says U.S.-N.K. talks may resume soon after talks with Biegun

(ATTN: ADDS more info in 15th para)
By Song Sang-ho

SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Hyun-chong said Thursday that he got an "impression" from his talks with the top U.S. envoy on North Korea that nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang may resume soon.

Kim met U.S. Special Representative Stephen Biegun hours after the North said it has no interest in dialogue as long as the allies keep up military threats against it in an angry reaction to the delivery this week of more F-35A stealth fighters to the South.

"The impression that I got (from the talks with Biegun) was that the dialogue between the North and the U.S. appears likely to unfold soon," Kim told reporters after the hourlong meeting. He did not go into detail about how he got the impression.

On Wednesday, Biegun said the United States is ready to resume working-level talks with the North "as soon as we hear from our counterparts" in the North in a renewed call for the regime to come out for dialogue.

Washington and Pyongyang were expected to restart working-level talks last month based on an agreement between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their impromptu talks at the inter-Korean border on June 30.

But the talks have not been held amid Pyongyang's furious reactions to the combined South Korea-U.S. military exercise, which it berated as a rehearsal for invasion and a sign of continued hostility toward it.

Kim also said that Biegun took note of Seoul's "restraint" over Pyongyang's recent sharp rhetoric against it. The North has been sharpening its criticism of the South over the joint exercise with the U.S. and the introduction of high-tech weapons systems from the U.S.

"The U.S. highly regarded this restraint to achieve the constructive goal," he said.

Apparently mindful of concerns that the North has been shunning dialogue with the South while remaining open to talks with the U.S., Kim stressed that the allies have been closely cooperating over the nuclear negotiation process.

"As there is trust between Representative Biegun and his (South Korean) counterpart Lee Do-hoon, and they have been sharing everything, things will go well," he said.

During the talks, Biegun also mentioned the importance of trilateral cooperation among the U.S. and its two Asian allies, South Korea and Japan, as Seoul is mulling whether to renew its military information-sharing pact with Tokyo.

Seoul has hinted that it could withdraw from the pact, seen as a crucial element of trilateral security cooperation in the face of North Korean threats, as it ratchets up pressure on Japan to retract its recent export curbs.

"After a prudent review, (South Korea) will make a judgment on the pact in a way that serves our national interests," he said.

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae plans to convene a session of the National Security Council later in the day to discuss whether to extend the pact, which is to be automatically renewed unless either side expresses an intent to terminate it.

Biegun extended his stay in South Korea by one day, diplomatic sources here said, adding to growing speculation that he could try to contact North Koreans, possibly at the inter-Korean border truce village of Panmunjom.

Biegun flew to Korea from Japan on Tuesday initially for a three-day visit.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
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