Anchor: North Korea appears to be preparing for its upcoming summits with South Korea and the United States by sending some of its top diplomats for pre-summit talks in third countries. 
Oh Soo-young has more.

Report: North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho remained tight-lipped as he traveled home from a series of meetings with his Swedish counterpart on security issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

Ri was spotted arriving at Beijing Capital International Airport on Monday morning. He did not answer any questions about what he had discussed with the Swedish foreign minister or whether he had approached any U.S. officials during his trip.

According to the Swedish Foreign Ministry, however, Ri and Margot Wallstrom discussed the security situation on the Korean Peninsula as well as various diplomatic efforts for the peaceful resolution of conflict.

The ministry also said Wallstrom underlined the need for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arms and missiles program in line with UN Security Council resolutions.  

There has been speculation that the two sides shared views on the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as well as the issue of freeing American citizens currently detained in the North.

Neither Stockholm nor Pyongyang confirmed these issues were on the agenda.

North Korea, meanwhile, has dispatched another top-ranking diplomat to Finland to hold unofficial talks with South Korea and the United States.

Choe Kang-il, deputy director-general for North American affairs at the North's Foreign Ministry, was seen at the same Beijing airport less than a day earlier, boarding a flight to Helsinki.

According to diplomatic sources, Choe will take part in a "one-point-five track meeting" with security experts from Seoul and former U.S. officials including Kathleen Stephens who was the U.S. ambassador to Seoul from 2008 to 2011.

The talks are likely to touch upon the upcoming summits between the two Koreas, and the U.S. and North Korea.  

Choe was part of the North Korean delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February and he has participated in various international events and talks on nuclear weapons.
Oh Soo-young, KBS World Radio News.

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