US ex-officials meet N. Korean nuclear chief amid standoff
US academics and former senior officials met with North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator in Singapore on Sunday to get a feel for each other's positions amid a yearslong standoff over the North's nuclear weapons buildup.
Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council, a US-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."
