The U.S. and North Korea do not have formal diplomatic relations, but former U.S. officials occasionally meet diplomats from the North to try and settle the impasse over the country's pursuit of a long-range nuclear-armed missile that could hit the U.S. mainland.
Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council, a U.S.-based nonprofit, told reporters that the meeting will cover the North's nuclear missile programs. He said "it's two ways of taking each other's temperature."
The North's side was led by Ri Yong Ho, the chief negotiator for six-party denuclearization talks.