Sweden stands ready to assume a discreet facilitating role in nuclear diplomacy with North Korea to contribute to building peace on the Korean Peninsula, Swedish Ambassador to Korea Jakob Hallgren stressed at a meeting hosted by Seoul Cyber University last week.

“We have played a role as a facilitator in relations with North Korea and we are happy to continue in that role,” said Hallgren, citing north European countries’ history of holding a neutral position between the US and Soviet Union in the Cold War.

“At present, we are highly interested in denuclearization and (the) peace process between South and North Korea, and officials from the Koreas and Sweden have a meeting regularly to discuss the situation and draw strategies,” he said, according to a summary of the meeting provided by the university.

His remarks came during a two-hour meeting held Wednesday at the office of South Korea’s first online university, established in 2000. The meeting was held in celebration of the 60-year anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Sweden.

At the meeting, Hallgren and three other experts on the Korean Peninsula -- Kim Ji-yoon of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, Kim Hyun-wook of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy and Kim Joon-hyung of Handong Global University -- discussed the future of US-North Korea relations and inter-Korean ties.

Despite the collapse of the summit between North Korea and the US in February, the participants all agreed that bilateral negotiations on the North’s denuclearization will resume. But they had different views on whether North Korea will give up its nuclear arsenal and when the reclusive country will complete doing so, according to the summary.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)