Diplomatic row brews as visa denial stalls first N.Korea-US contact

A diplomatic row may just be playing out after the U.S. State Department denied issuing a visa to a top envoy from Pyongyang, thereby cancelling plans for the first contact between North Korea and the United States after President Donald Trump took office.

Talks were planned between senior North Korean foreign ministry envoy Choe Son Hui and former U.S. officials, scheduled to take place on March 1 and 2 in New York but were called off after Choe was denied visa into the US.

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Unconfirmed reports suggests that North Korea’s test-firing of a ballistic missile on Feb. 12 and the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half brother in Malaysia may have played a role, in denying Choe the visa.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Reuters interview on Thursday that he was concerned about North Korea’s ballistic missile tests and that “it’s a very dangerous situation”.

Trump did not rule out meeting Kim at some point in the future under certain circumstances but suggested it might be too late.

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