Chief nuclear envoys of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States will hold talks in Seoul next week ahead of a year-end deadline set by Pyongyang for Washington to soften its approach to stalled denuclearization talks, ROK's foreign ministry said Friday.
Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) affairs, will make a three-day visit to the ROK from Sunday, according to the Seoul ministry.
Biegun will meet on Monday with Lee Do-hoon, ROK's special representative for the Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs.
During the meeting, Lee and Biegun will exchange in-depth opinions about the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula, while discussing substantive ways to make progress in achieving the complete denuclearization of and the lasting peace settlement in the peninsula, the Seoul ministry noted.
U.S. special envoy for the DPRK Stephen Biegun talks with his ROK counterpart Lee Do-hoon during their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, ROK, August 21, 2019. /Reuters Photo
The meeting would come amid the deadlocked denuclearization negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington.
The DPRK and the United States held working-level denuclearization talks in Stockholm in October, but it ended without progress.
U.S. officials came to that meeting seeking a "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization," and a moratorium on weapons tests as a first step, while a DPRK negotiator accused them of sticking to their "old viewpoint and attitude."
Pyongyang set its deadline for the denuclearization negotiations at the end of this year.
(With inputs from Xinhua, Reuters)