Atila Altuntas, Ayse Dogru
05 October 2019•Update: 06 October 2019
STOCKHOLM
The working-level nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea resumed in Sweden, country's foreign minister said on Saturday.
"I am encouraged that US and DPRK working level delegations are currently in Sweden to hold talks. Dialogue needed to reach denuclearization and peaceful solution," Ann Linde said on Twitter.
According to Swedish media reports, North Korean diplomat Kim Myong Gil and the U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun began nuclear talks at Villa Elfvik Strand in Lidingo, east of Stockholm, under high security measures.
The talks are expected to focus on making progress on the first consensus reached by the U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore.
The meeting is the first one between the Washington and Pyongyang officials after Trump walked 20 steps into North Korea last June upon the invitation of his North Korean counterpart.
Trump and Kim last met on June 30 at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, and decided to continue the nuclear negotiation process.
The two leaders met for the first time at the historic summit in Singapore on June 12 last year, and agreed on the lasting peace and nuclear demilitarization of the Korean Peninsula.
On Feb. 26-27, the two leaders met once again in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, but the summit ended faster than expected and with no agreement.
After the second summit in Vietnam, the negotiations came to a halt.
* Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev from Ankara
