The United States has decided not to issue visas for a North Korean delegation that had been due to take part in planned “back-channel” talks with former US officials in New York.
The talks had been scheduled to take place between the North Korean delegation and the former US officials in New York in early March, according to the people on the participants’ list, who spoke on condition of anonymity, The New York Times reported Saturday.
On Friday morning, the US State Department told Donald S. Zagoria, from the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, who coordinated the talks, that the visas for the North Korean delegates would be granted. Hours later, however, the decision was reversed.
“A senior official in the State Department, the White House or elsewhere in the government had second thoughts about issuing visas to representatives of North Korea,” The Times wrote, citing a person familiar with the issue.
The six-member delegation…