WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2020) The US special envoy for North Korea will visit Seoul and Tokyo this week for talks on North Korea, the State Department said in a press release on Monday.
"Deputy Secretary of State and Special Representative for North Korea Stephen E. Biegun will travel to Seoul and Tokyo July 7-10, to meet with officials in the Republic of Korea and Japan to continue close allied cooperation on a range of bilateral and global issues and further strengthen coordination on the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK," the release said.
South Korean Unification Minister Nominee Lee In-young on Monday said dialogue between Seoul and Pyongyang should continue regardless of the circumstances.
On Saturday, North Korea rejected the possibility of restarting negotiations with the United States and accused Washington of embracing a "hostile policy" toward Pyongyang and disregarding agreements made at past summits.
Biegun's trip to the region comes amid a stalemate in inter-Korean relations after North Korea cut off communications with its southern neighbor and blew up the joint liaison office in the border town of Kaesong in mid-June.
According to Pyongyang, the move was in line with "the mindset of the enraged people" over propaganda leaflets that drifted in from the South. The South Korean government has urged the Keunsaem activists, a group of North Korean defectors, to suspend leafleting, as it could further anger Pyongyang and undermine the safety of people living near the border.
