A former senior Swiss diplomat, Franz von Däniken, is cautiously optimistic about proposed talks between the United States and North Korea. Von Däniken said there had been a major political development in the last weeks, but he recommended keeping expectations limited Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump accepted an invitation to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but details of the meeting are still not yet clear. “North Korea and the situation on the Korean peninsula remain a big challenge,” von Däniken is quoted in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper as saying. He said Switzerland was well placed to act as facilitator given its long-running international observer mission at the demarcation line in Panmunjom since the early 1950s. “We can make ourselves useful if needed. Be it as hosts or in multilateral cooperation,” he added. Secret mission Von Däniken, a representative of the independent Zurich-based Drosos Foundation, was in Pyongyang twice together with ...
