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Then-acting US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Sung Kim (front right) stands up as President Joe Biden announces him as the US State Department’s new special representative for North Korea during a joint press conference at the South Korea-US summit at the White House on the afternoon of May 21. (Yonhap)

US Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim is scheduled to visit South Korea next week, with efforts reportedly underway to coordinate bilateral discussions between the South Korean and Japanese senior representatives on the North Korean nuclear issue, as well as trilateral discussions with the US.

The visit is drawing particular attention amid predictions that Pyongyang will come out this week with a new “direction of response to the international political situation.”

An official with the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday that “coordination efforts are taking place for US State Department Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim’s visit to South Korea on June 19 to 23.”

The MOFA explained that the visit is taking place to promote the swift enforcement of terms in the agreement reached at the first summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden last month in Washington, DC.

The MOFA official also said that Takehiro Funakoshi, director-general for Asian and Oceanian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, would be “visiting South Korea during Special Representative Kim’s visit.”

“Coordination is currently taking place for discussions between the South Korean and Japanese senior representatives on the North Korean nuclear issue, as well as trilateral discussions with the US,” the official said. These would be the first in-person discussions among senior representatives on the North Korean nuclear issue since the Biden administration took office.

With North Korea scheduled to discuss and decide upon an “analysis of the current international political situation and the direction of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s response” at a third plenary session of the 8th WPK Central Committee that began on Tuesday, this suggests the three sides will be able to discuss Pyongyang’s official policies toward the US and South Korea by the time of Kim’s visit.

The Biden administration has requested dialogue with Pyongyang to explain the results of the review of North Korea policy that the US completed in late April, but North Korea reportedly has yet to respond.

Commenting on speculation that Kim may attempt to meet with North Korea at Panmunjom during his visit, the MOFA said, “That is not being pursued as part of the schedule.”

Kim, who also serves as US ambassador to Indonesia, previously played a role in working-level coordination of the first North Korea-US summit in Singapore in June 2018 between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and then-US President Donald Trump.

He’s considered an expert on North Korea and the North Korean nuclear issue, having served as senior US representative to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue between February 2009 and October 2011 and as US Ambassador to South Korea after that.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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