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U.S. Will Build on Singapore Agreement With N. Korea: Campbell

IN THIS ISSUE: U.S. Will Build on Singapore Agreement With N. Korea: Campbell, Moon Jae-in Hoping to Ratify 2018 Agreement With Kim Jong Un in Parliament, Iran Nuclear Talks Show Increasing Hopes of a Resolution, Iran’s Oil Exports Rise as U.S. Looks to Rejoin Nuclear Accord, Blinken and Lavrov Hold First High-Level Meeting of Biden's Presidency as US-Russia Tensions Simmer, Georgia Nuclear Plant Now Delayed Until 2022 as Costs Mount

Published on May 20, 2021

U.S. Will Build on Singapore Agreement With N. Korea: Campbell

Byun Duk-kun | Yonhap News Agency

The U.S. administration of President Joe Biden will build on a 2018 summit agreement with North Korea, White House Asia czar Kurt Campbell said Tuesday, extending overtures to Pyongyang after completing a monthslong policy review on the North. “Our policy review took a careful look at everything that has been tried before. Our efforts will build on Singapore and other agreements made by previous administrations,” Campbell, White House policy coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, said in a written interview with Yonhap News Agency. It marks the first time a ranking U.S. official has said on the record that the Biden administration will inherit the denuclearization agreement signed in Singapore by former President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018.

Moon Jae-in Hoping to Ratify 2018 Agreement With Kim Jong Un in Parliament

Jeongmin Kim | NK News

The Moon Jae-in administration will ask South Korea’s National Assembly to ratify the 2018 agreement signed between President Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Seoul’s unification minister Lee In-young said on Thursday. Moon appears willing to move ahead with the legislation, even after North Korea in June last year referred to the 2018 agreement as a “dead document” after blowing up the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong — a building that came into being as a result of the Panmunjom Declaration.

Iran Nuclear Talks Show Increasing Hopes of a Resolution

David Rising and Philipp Jenne | Associated Press

World powers met Wednesday for a new round of high-level talks on bringing the United States back into the nuclear deal with Iran amid growing hopes that an agreement might soon be within reach. Enrique Mora, the European Union official who chaired the talks between Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and Iran told reporters “we have made substantial progress” though there were “still things to be worked out.” “I will not venture a date because you never know, but I’m quite sure there will be a final agreement,” he said.

Iran’s Oil Exports Rise as U.S. Looks to Rejoin Nuclear Accord

Lara Jakes | New York Times

Iran is exporting hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil each day, violating American sanctions even as world powers negotiate to lift the economic penalties and revitalize a nuclear accord that was rendered all but defunct by the Trump administration. The oil exports have been rising over the past year, according to data and analysts the Trump administration. And it suggests that Iran and its oil buyers may be betting that any penalties they may face are worth the risk as the Biden administration works to rejoin the nuclear deal that Mr. Trump jettisoned in May 2018.

Blinken and Lavrov Hold First High-Level Meeting of Biden's Presidency as US-Russia Tensions Simmer

Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette | CNN

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, the first high-level encounter between the US and Russia since President Joe Biden took office, which comes amid heightened tensions between the former Cold War foes—friction Blinken acknowledged right away. . . . The two diplomats also discussed areas in which both countries could benefit from cooperation, “including Afghanistan, strategic stability, and curbing Iran and the DPRK's nuclear programs.”

Georgia Nuclear Plant Now Delayed Until 2022 as Costs Mount

Jeff Amy | Associated Press

Georgia Power Co. said Tuesday that delays in completing testing means the first new unit at its Vogtle plant is now unlikely to start generating electricity before January at the earliest. The unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. had in recent years been aiming to complete the first unit in November, but officials told investors last month that it would probably be finished in December. Company officials said Tuesday that testing began in late April, would take three weeks longer than expected and is unlikely to be completed before late June, adding more time to construction and startup.

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