The vice chief of the South Korean presidential council says that the United States appears to be contacting North Korea via Russia for talks.

Executive Vice Chairman Kim Deog-ryong of the National Unification Advisory Council made the remarks on Saturday during a meeting with correspondents in Washington.

In response to a question about any secret contact between Washington and Pyongyang, Kim said that it appears there are such contact between the two sides to probe the possibility of dialogue.

He said that he came to obtain information that North Korea now seems to be getting ready to engage in dialogue with the United States, possibly in the form of a 1.5 track dialogue between North Korean incumbent officials and former U.S. officials in a third country.

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