US envoy optimistic about N. Korea despite latest friction
SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — The Trump administration’s special envoy for North Korea on Friday expressed optimism about the diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear crisis, a day after the North issued a surprisingly blunt statement saying it will never disarm unless the United States removes what it calls a nuclear threat.
Following a meeting with South Korean officials, Stephen Biegun said Washington was eager to move to the “next stage of discussions” with North Korea on denuclearization and setting up a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who first met in June. The leaders are trying to arrange another meeting for early next year.
Biegun did not directly address North Korea’s recent statement, which jarred with Seoul’s rosier presentation of the North Korean position and could potentially rattle a fragile trilateral diplomacy to defuse a nuclear crisis that last year had many fearing war.
While North Korea has insisted that U.S.-led international sanctions against the country should be removed before any progress in nuclear negotiations, Biegun reiterated Washington’s stance that the punitive economic measures should be maintained until the North takes firmer steps toward irreversibly and verifiably relinquishing its nuclear arsenal.