New US envoy for North Korea says looks forward to 'positive response' on dialogue
21 June, 2021
The United States' new top envoy for North Korea said on Monday (Jun 21) he looks forward to a "positive response soon" on dialogue from North Korea, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, during his Seoul visit to meet counterparts from South Korea and Japan.
.S. special representative for North Korea Sung Kim is in South Korea for a five-day visit, amid an impasse in denuclearisation talks with Pyongyang, without word of any planned efforts to get hold of the North.
"We are prepared for either, because you understand, we are still waiting to listen to back from Pyongyang for a meeting," he said. "Hopefully dialogue indicates that we will receive a positive response soon."
Kim, who doubles as ambassador to Indonesia, had back-to-back meetings scheduled with South Korea's top nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, as well as a trilateral session involving his Japanese counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi.
Noh and Funakoshi were also scheduled to get a bilateral meeting to go over North Korea.
Kim's appointment came after U.S. President Joe Biden's administration conducted an assessment of North Korea policy that concluded america would seek to find practical ways of inducing Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
In his first direct comments on Biden's administration, which took office in January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged preparation for both dialogue and confrontation with america, specially the latter, state news agency KCNA said on Friday.
AMERICA said on Sunday it saw Kim's comments as an "interesting signal," but added that Washington was still waiting for direct communication from Pyongyang to begin any talks associated with denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
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