North Korea appears unwilling to hold formal talks with the U.S. on its nuclear program anytime soon, said a former American official who met senior Pyongyang diplomats in Malaysia last week.
"At this unofficial meeting, North Korea spoke about their security concerns and need for a nuclear deterrence, given the hostile relationship they have with the U.S.," Joseph DeTrani, a former top U.S. intelligence specialist who helped broker a 2005 agreement on North Korea's nuclear program, said by e-mail. "It appears that North Korea is unlikely to enter into official talks with the U.S. in the near term."
The Oct. 21-22 gathering brought North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Han Song Ryol together with a delegation of former U.S. nuclear negotiators, resuming an informal dialogue that previously occurred about twice a year. It offered a glimpse of leader Kim Jong Un's intentions after his regime conducted its fifth nuclear test in September, part of the isolated regime's efforts to accelerate the development of nuclear weapons.