U.S. and North Korean officials are reportedly preparing for holding semi-official, semi-civilian bilateral talks in New York.
 
Quoting various sources, the Washington Post reported Sunday that preparations are under way for the two sides to realize the “Track 1.5” talks within the next few weeks, but the planning for the talks is still in a preparatory stage.
 
The newspaper said that the planned talks are being organized by Donald Zagoria of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, who served as a consultant on Asia during the Carter administration. It added that the U.S. delegation is made up of former government officials who usually take part in the so-called Track 2 unofficial contacts with the North.
 
The Washington Post predicted that Choe Son Hui, the director of the U.S. affairs department in North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, is likely to lead delegates from Pyongyang. However the U.S. State Department has not approved the North Koreans’ visas for the talks.
 
The newspaper analyzed that if the talks, the first Track 1.5 contact in five years, take place as planned, they could offer a glimmer of hope for aggravated relationships between the two countries.

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