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US State Department Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun. (Hwang Joon-bum

US State Department Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun indicated that Washington may keep sanctions in place until North Korea completely denuclearizes while providing rewards in the meantime through other means such as humanitarian aid and establishing liaison offices in both capitals.

Biegun also stated that the US government wants a complete freeze of all North Korean nuclear programs while denuclearization talks are taking place.

On July 2, the US website Axios reported Biegun as having made such comments in an off-the-record briefing to reporters on board Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s aircraft during his return flight from South Korea on June 30. Pompeo and Biegun accompanied President Donald Trump on a visit to South Korea. In its report, Axios noted that it did not have any of its reporters aboard the aircraft and therefore did not agree to keep the remarks off the record.

In the report, Biegun was quoted as saying, “What we are looking for is a complete freeze of WMD programs.” He further called on North Korea to “stop making things,” including nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and other weapons of mass destruction.

Biegun was also quoted as saying the US administration wanted “a freeze and an idea of an end state [for denuclearization], and then within that we have a discussion of a roadmap [for North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons].”

Biegun stressed that the US was not prepared to lift sanctions solely in response to North Korea freezing its nuclear weapons program. At the same time, he said it had some concessions it could provide to leader Kim Jong-un while dialogue is taking place, including “humanitarian aid, expanded people-to-people talks, [and] presence in each other's capitals.”

“Let's say they give us 20 nuclear weapons. What can we get?” Biegun was quoted as asking.

“I’m confident that I'd go to the Secretary and he'd go to the President and he would consider that,” he continued. His message signaled that if North Korea completely freezes its nuclear program and implements denuclearization measures during its dialogue with the US, Washington could proceed with humanitarian aid or efforts to strengthen diplomatic ties, such as the establishment of liaison offices on both sides.

Biegun’s remarks appeared to represent a fleshed-out version of the “flexible” approach he referred to publicly last month.

While Biegun stressed that the US has “no interest in sanctions relief before denuclearization,” he also noted that the US was open to some give-and-take on the way toward achieving the denuclearization goal, the website reported.

Biegun’s remarks also provided a more systematic picture of what the US wants from its negotiations with North Korea, namely a freeze of all nuclear programs and a denuclearization “idea” and “roadmap.”

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

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