Seoul (AFP) – South Korea said Monday it may delay the imminent opening of a liaison office in North Korea, after US Secretary of State Mike…
Seoul (AFP) – South Korea said Monday it may delay the imminent opening of a liaison office in North Korea, after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang was abruptly cancelled by Donald Trump.
Trump on Friday pulled the plug on the visit, blaming a lack of progress in denuclearisation efforts since his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June.
The sudden cancellation has put the brakes on Seoul’s plans to open a liaison office in North Korea following a rapid diplomatic thaw on the Korean peninsula.
« I can’t say it won’t have any impact, » Kim Eui-kyeom, the South’s presidential spokesman, told reporters.
« We were considering the opening of the liaison office as part of a smooth series of events including Pompeo’s visit to the North and the inter-Korean summit, but there is a need to review it since a new situation has arisen, » he added.
Blue House officials told AFP he was referring to the timing of the opening rather than the project as a whole.
The setting up of the inter-Korean liaison office was agreed between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North’s Kim at their summit in April.
