US Envoy to N. Korea Expresses Confidence About Denuclearization
Stephen Biegun met top officials in Seul to discuss the progress
The U.S. special envoy for North Korea has expressed confidence about achieving the communist country’s nuclear disarmament. Stephen Biegun met with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha in Seoul on Monday to discuss the progress in the talks between Pyongyang and Washington. Following a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon, Biegun said that Washington and the South have a shared goal of ending seven decades of hostility on the Korean Peninsula. "We have a shared goal here, which is to bring an end to 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula and the primary requirement for us to get to that endpoint is to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea. So I am absolutely confident that this is within the reach. I think our two presidents are singularly focused on this goal,” Biegun said. South Korean Special Representative for the Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon said that the denuclearization process has reached a critical stage and sides need to meet as often as possible. "Denuclearization process is at a critical juncture and we need to meet up as often as possible to make sure there is no daylight whatsoever between our two allies,” Lee Do-hoon said Since the Trump-Kim summit in June in Singapore, North Korea has taken some measures, namely halting nuclear and missile tests and dismantling its nuclear testing site. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his fourth trip to North Korea and had meetings in Japan and South Korea to arrange a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Trump will likely have his second meeting with Kim early next year, according to U.S. officials.