ZCZC
BFF-03
US-NKOREA-SKOREA-NUCLEAR-DIPLOMACY
US special envoy for N. Korea going to Pyongyang: official
WASHINGTON, Feb 5, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The US special envoy for North Korea
will head to Pyongyang on Wednesday for talks ahead of a much-anticipated
second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, the State Department said
Monday.
In addition to preparations for the summit, Stephen Biegun’s meetings with
North Korean official Kim Hyok Chol will “advance further progress on the
commitments the president and Chairman Kim made in Singapore: complete
denuclearization, transforming US-DPRK relations and building a lasting peace
on the Korean Peninsula,” a statement read.
In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Trump said the date and venue of his
upcoming second summit with the North Korean leader had been agreed — and
would likely be announced before or during his State of the Union address on
Tuesday.
Vietnam is seen as the most likely venue for the meeting, which is expected
to take place late this month, and follows their landmark first summit in
Singapore last June.
That meeting — the first-ever between the leaders of the US and North
Korea — produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work
towards “the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”
But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over what
that means.
Last week, US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told Congress
that “North Korea is unlikely to give up all of its nuclear weapons and
production capabilities”.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0813 hrs