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This image made from a video, shows U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Steve Biegun at a restaurant in Hanoi Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. Chief negotiators from the U.S. and North Korea has reportedly been holding a meeting in Hanoi ahead of the second U.S.-North Korea summit, Japanese broadcaster TBS reports. (TBS via AP)/
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Expected to discuss North Korea’s FFVD and implementation of sanctions
As North Korea and the US continue to wage a war of nerves following their Hanoi summit, the Japanese press reported on Mar. 25 that the US’ top envoy for North Korea had paid a surprise visit to Beijing, China. Kyodo News quoted a diplomatic source as saying that US State Department Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun had arrived in Beijing on Mar. 24. TV Asahi also reported that Biegun had arrived in Beijing on Mar. 24 following a visit to London and had dropped by the US Embassy in China on Mar. 25. On Mar. 19, Biegun had met with representatives from the UK, France and Germany to discuss ways to cooperate on achieving North Korea’s final and fully verified denuclearization (FFVD). Biegun is primarily expected to exchange views with Kong Xuanyou, China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Korean Peninsula Affairs, about the results of the North Korea-US summit in Hanoi at the end of February. More specifically, Biegun is expected to communicate US President Donald Trump’s intentions to engage in dialogue while maintaining sanctions. He is also likely to urge China to properly implement sanctions on the North. “Biegun will probably want to [have China] send a message to North Korea to return to dialogue, but I don’t think that will be effective. Considering that China is the key link in maintaining sanctions, that will probably be the larger goal of the deliberations,” said a source in the South Korean government. But in the wake of Trump’s tweet on Mar. 22 that ruled out additional sanctions on North Korea, these deliberations are unlikely to have a major effect on the situation. In a related story, NHK reported that Kim Chang-son, chief secretary of the North Korean State Affairs Commission secretariat and chief of protocol for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, had wrapped up a seven-day visit to Russia and departed from Vladivostok International Airport on Mar. 25. By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent, and Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
