North Korea not to attend talks on repatriation of US soldiers' remains

The US and North Korea continue to discuss a specific time to hold expert-level dialogue on the return of US soldiers' remains. Photo: AP

This suggests a possible rift between the two countries in ongoing denuclearization talks.

According to government officials and the United States Forces Korea (USFK), the US and North Korean delegations were scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. (local time) at the truce village of Panmunjom, but as of 2:30 p.m., the North Korean side had not shown up.

It remains unclear whether the talks were postponed or whether USFK received any information from North Korea.

On the same day, a diplomatic source said that the US and North Korea continued to discuss a specific time to hold expert-level dialogue on the return of US soldiers' remains.

The anonymous source said: "The US side has discussed with North Korea to hold an early discussion on July 12, but it seems that North Korea is not ready for the discussion yet. The two sides are currently in contact to determine the meeting time. It is possible that the US will make an announcement soon."

Professor Kim Dong-yub of Kyungnam University commented: "North Korea's absence may indicate dissatisfaction with the US for making excessive demands at the high-level talks last week."

Another prediction is that North Korea is upset with the image of the country created by the US media - trying to demand money from the return of US soldiers' remains.

However, while Pyongyang's stance may add further obstacles to denuclearization talks, the regime appears unlikely to abandon negotiations.

Instead, not showing up at the discussion could be a strategy to gain leverage in denuclearization negotiations.
If the above discussion does not take place, this could lead to a deadlock in denuclearization negotiations./.