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Bill Gertz, Inside the Ring, Washington Times

A U.S. government source tells Inside the Ring there are signs the Obama administration is quietly working to open secret talks with North Korea as part of a plan to eventually normalize relations with the communist regime in Pyongyang. The discussions or plans for them are said to be similar to the secret diplomacy that led to the December 2014 announced initiative to normalize relations with Cuba.

Those talks were carried out in secret during meetings in Canada and Vatican City over several months before the December rollout. Pope Francis was said to be a key player on the Cuba thaw in relations.

Back-channel North Korea talks would be more complicated because of South Korea. South Korean President Park Geun-Hye has taken a hard line on Chinese and North Korean appeals to resume nuclear talks that broke down several years ago. Mrs. Park is said to view the resumption of nuclear talks as a waste of time since the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un does not appear interested in holding sincere talks on giving up his nuclear arms.

Park spokeswoman Chun Hye-Ran said South Korea is opposed to secret talks with the North. “The Korean government attaches great importance to transparency in pursuing dialogue and cooperation with North Korea,” she told Inside the Ring. She declined to comment when asked if the United States is seeking back channel negotiations with Pyongyang.

White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan denied there are secret talks.

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  Kim Jong-Un, LIFE, Park Geun-Hye, Secret diplomacy with N. Korea? S. Korean leader calls for transparency, WorldTribune.com