北美 실무협상, 2~3주내로 재개... 비건 카운터파트는 누구?

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says... working-level talks with Pyeongyang could take place around mid-July... with the North's foreign ministry representing the regime.
It's now apparent that Pompeo's counterpart... will be North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong-ho, but questions remain... on who will be U.S. Special Representative Stephen Biegun's counterpart.
Oh Jung-hee tells us more.
Working-level talks between North Korea and the U.S. will start in a few weeks... with a new line-up of negotiators from the North.
This... according to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,... speaking to reporters at Osan Air Base before leaving South Korea on Sunday.
"And it'll happen -- I guess we're in June still. But it'll happen this month starting tomorrow, so some time in July. Probably the next two or three weeks, probably in the middle of the month would be my guess, at a place yet to be determined. But the teams will gather, they'll start working, they'll start exchanging ideas."
Pompeo said... that Washington's new negotiating partner representing the North... will be Pyeongyang's foreign affairs ministry.
And that was once again confirmed by North Korea's state media on Monday,... which reported that the North's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho sat across Pompeo at Sunday's Panmunjeom gathering.
"Steve will be leading the exercise. We'll have the foreign ministry as our counterpart. I don't know exactly who from the foreign ministry, but it's likely to be one of a couple of people."
This is a change of line-up for North Korea,... which originally had the ruling party's United Front Department in charge of inter-Korean affairs... lead the nuclear negotiations.
Now, the North's foreign ministry has been entrusted with that task... with Ri Yong-ho serving as Pompeo's counterpart.
The question is,... who will be Stephen Biegun's new counterpart.
The North's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui,... has been tabbed as the most likely candidate.
Choe reportedly met with Biegun on Saturday... to fine-tune the details for Kim and Trump's surprise rendezvous at the DMZ.
She was also spotted talking to Biegun for around five minutes at Panmunjeom on Sunday.
Considering these factors,... Choe could be Biegun's new counterpart.
But there are also views that the North could appoint a lower-level figure as the new negotiator... as Choe's standing within the regime's power structure... has seemingly risen in recent weeks.
Choe, in addition to being the North's number two diplomat, is a member of the State Affairs Commission, and considered to be one of Kim Jong-un's closest aides.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.