SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2020) US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun has discussed North Korea and other pressing issues during meetings with high-ranking South Korean officials on Wednesday and said that Washington supported inter-Korean cooperation.
Biegun arrived in Seoul on Tuesday for a two-day working visit and held meetings with several senior South Korean officials, including Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Sei-young. The sides discussed North Korea, COVID-19 and Seoul-Washington cooperation. Soon afterward, Biegun held talks with South Korean Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon.
"The United States strongly supports inter-Korean cooperation, and we believe this plays an important component in creating a more stable environment on the Korean Peninsula," Biegun told reporters after his meeting with Lee, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
The envoy also said that US President Donald Trump " has given us his full support" to continue efforts for achieving peace on the Korean peninsula and added that Washington was ready to resume talks with Pyongyang at any time.
At the same time, Biegun said that he did not request any meetings with the North Korean side as his trip is dedicated to negotiations with South Korea, a close US ally.
Meanwhile, Lee, after the meeting with Beigun, said he pointed out that dialogue was the only way to resolve differences on the Korean peninsula.
The US senior diplomat's visit to the region comes after Pyongyang cut off communications with its southern neighbor and blew up the joint liaison office in the border town of Kaesong in mid-June, stopping short of redeploying troops to the demilitarized zones at the border with South Korea.
