U.S.’s North Korea Envoy Says Kim Isn’t Giving Negotiators Power
North Korea has ruled out any denuclearization talks unless Washington lifts its “hostile policies” against the regime.
(Bloomberg) -- Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, said Kim Jong Un hasn’t yet shown he’s serious about giving up his nuclear arsenal and called on him to give his negotiators authority to engage seriously with their American counterparts.
“There is no meaningful or verifiable evidence that North Korea has made the choice to denuclearize,” Biegun said Wednesday during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be deputy secretary of state. “The person who needs to negotiate with me on North Korea is the first vice minister of foreign affairs, Choe Son Hui. So far she has not participated in these negotiations in a meaningful way.”
North Korea has ruled out any denuclearization talks with the U.S. unless Washington lifts its “hostile policies” against the regime, including stringent economic sanctions. The regime has set a year-end deadline for progress with the threat of scrapping negotiations after that.
Biegun said the U.S. and North Korea have agreed on a “broad construct” for how to pursue negotiations, and he argued that his nomination as deputy secretary elevates “further the priority on North Korea.”
To contact the reporter on this story: David Wainer in New York at dwainer3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert
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