Canada quietly hosted high-level officials from North Korea back in the fall — a low-profile effort to convince the police state to respect human rights and abandon its quest for a nuclear arsenal.
CBC News has confirmed that in late September, a five-person delegation from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) arrived in Ottawa for a series of meetings with Canadian bureaucrats.
A senior government official speaking on background said Canada used the two days of discussions "to push for de-nuclearization and present very real human rights concerns directly, face-to-face, with North Korean interlocutors."
It's still not clear how the meeting was first proposed or organized, but the source said Canadian officials welcomed the in-person conversations.