Despite missile tests, senior official sees Korea talks breakthrough

[Swordsmyth]

The head of an international organization who last year arranged a historic handshake between parliamentarians from North and South Korea said on Thursday he saw prospects for a breakthrough in talks on normalizing relations."I am engaged in ongoing dialogue between the north and the south and I'm optimistic that there will be a breakthrough," Martin Chungong, secretary-general of the 179-country Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), told reporters in Geneva.
Chungong said the IPU's role was to build bridges and it had strong ties with both parliaments.
"There is a strong will, interest and commitment to work together to help along the process of normalization on the Korean peninsula," he said, without giving details.
As Chungong was speaking, South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said North Korea had fired an unidentified projectile, less than a week after its leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing of multiple rockets and missiles.
But Chungong shrugged off the risk that the tests could derail the talks.
"I think personally, and realistically, this is posturing, it is part of the process of negotiations. You don't go to bargain from a weak position. You have a full palette of requirements that you want met, and then hopefully you can find common ground."

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/senior-offici...081104352.html

[Zippyjuan]

Just don't expect the North to give up their weapons.