PRESS RELEASE

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China Appreciates U.S. Direct Diplomacy with North Korea

Nov. 2, 2017 (EIRNS)—At a regular press briefing in Beijing on Oct. 30, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, acknowledging that the United States has been holding quiet diplomatic talks with North Korea, said that Beijing hopes such meetings can "enhance mutual understanding and trust" between the two nations, GB Times reported today.

The GB Times article also cited a report from Huanqiu.com that said the United States has entered into clandestine diplomatic talks with North Korea despite the ongoing war of words between President Donald Trump and Pyongyang. The report also said that

"Joseph Yun, the U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, had already held classified conversations with diplomats stationed at the North Korean Permanent Mission to the United Nations, using the so-called ’New York channel.’"

Reuters, in an exclusive report on Oct. 31, had reported on the New York Channel and cited a "senior State Department official," saying Yun’s interaction with the North Koreans has "not been limited at all, both [in] frequency and substance.... Among the points that Yun has made to his North Korean interlocutors is to ’stop testing’ nuclear bombs and missiles, the official said."