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US State Department Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun returned to Seoul on Feb. 8 after his working-level talks with North Korean Special Representative for US Affairs Kim Hyok Chol in Pyongyang. The photo shows Biegun in Seoul on Feb. 4. (Yonhap News)

The US State Department announced on Feb. 8 that Stephen Biegun, its special representative for North Korea, and his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok-chol had agreed to meet again for further negotiations prior to the second North Korea-US summit.

“Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun met with Special Representative for US Affairs of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK Kim Hyok Chol [on] February 6-8, in Pyongyang. Special Representative Biegun and Special Representative Kim discussed advancing President Trump and Chairman Kim’s Singapore summit commitments of complete denuclearization, transforming US-DPRK relations, and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula,” the US State Department said in a media note released on Feb. 8.

“Special Representative Biegun and Special Representative Kim agreed to meet again in advance of President Trump and Chairman Kim’s second summit,” the note also said. This means that the two countries have agreed to hold more working-level negotiations before the second North Korea-US summit, which will be held in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28. The State Department did not announce the time or location of the next working-level negotiations.

It’s also notable that the US State Department made its first reference to Kim Hyok-chol, North Korea’s former ambassador to Spain, by his official title of “special representative for US affairs of the State Affairs Commission.” According to diplomatic sources, that was the title by which Kim Hyok-chol introduced himself when he visited Washington, D.C., with Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and director of the WPK’s United Front Department, on Jan. 18.

After his arrival in South Korea on Feb. 3, Biegun met with Chung Eui-yong, director of the Blue House National Security Office, and Lee Do-hoon, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs. Biegun next visited Pyongyang on Feb. 6, where he spent three days in working-level negotiations with Kim Hyok-chol, returning to South Korea on the evening of Feb. 8.

US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino gives a briefing on Feb. 7. (Hwang Joon-bum

Earlier, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino discussed Biegun and Kim’s negotiations in Pyongyang during the daily press briefing on Feb. 7: “These meetings are to prepare for [President Trump’s] second summit with Chairman Kim [Jong-un] and to make further progress on the commitments that the President and Chairman Kim made at their first summit in Singapore, including complete denuclearization, transformation of the United States-North Korea relations, and building a lasting peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula.”

The State Department’s media note and Palladino’s remarks echo how US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Biegun have recently been emphasizing improving North Korea-US relations and a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula alongside North Korea’s denuclearization. This is presumed to indicate that the US is prepared to take corresponding measures in line with North Korean steps toward denuclearization.

Along with its demands for North Korea to take steps including shutting down its Yongbyon nuclear facilities, the US has reportedly been reviewing corresponding measures such as expanding humanitarian aid, making an end-of-war declaration and establishing a North Korea-US liaison office. The US is reportedly moving toward officially adopting the position that North Korea must dismantle all of its missiles – not only the ICBMs that threaten the US mainland but also its mid- and short-range missiles. But in the implementation phase, the US will opt for a step-by-step approach that begins with focusing on the dismantlement of ICBMs, observers say.

Palladino also expressed his gratitude to the government of Vietnam, where the North Korea-US summit will be held. “The history of our two nations reflects the possibilities for peace and prosperity. We move past conflict and division towards the thriving partnership that we enjoy today,” the deputy spokesperson said.

South Korean Ambassador to the US Cho Yoon-je also expressed his high hopes for Biegun and Kim Hyok-chol’s working-level negotiations. “Since Special Representative Biegun prepared extensively for his trip to Pyongyang, I expect they had a concrete discussion,” Cho said during a meeting with foreign correspondents in Washington, DC, on Friday.

“I’ve already let the Americans know they need to take bold corresponding measures, too. I also think President Trump’s reference to ‘bold diplomacy’ sends a positive message.”

“As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Trump said during his State of the Union address on Feb. 5.

The US State Department also emphasized its standard position that sanctions on North Korea cannot be relaxed until denuclearization occurs. “We remain united in enforcing and in implementing the United Nations sanctions until we achieve that final, fully verified denuclearization. We’ve been very clear that sanctions relief will follow denuclearization,” Palladino said.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

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