#North Korea turns away US official aiming for nuclear talks

A State Department official arrived in South Korea Tuesday for talks the US hopes would lead to “the final, fully verified denuclearization” of North Korea — but leaders of the Hermit Kingdom told him to take a hike before he even arrived.

“Deputy Secretary of State and Special Representative for North Korea Stephen E. Biegun will travel to Seoul and Tokyo July 7-10, to meet with officials in the Republic of Korea and Japan to continue close allied cooperation on a range of bilateral and global issues and further strengthen coordination on the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK,” the department said in a statement, referring to the country’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

But Kwon Jong Gun, director general for US affairs at North Korea’s foreign ministry, shot down the idea of resuming face-to-face talks with the US, which stalled after a summit in Vietnam failed to make any progress in February 2019.

“It is just the time for [South Korea] to stop meddling in others’ affairs but it seems there is no cure or prescription for its bad habit. Explicitly speaking once again, we have no intention to sit face to face with the US,” Kwon said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

Kwon’s statement came days after North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Sun Hui — whom Biegun has called his potential negotiating partner if talks resume — insisted the North won’t resume negotiations unless President Trump abandons what the dictatorship described as “hostile” policies.

He criticized the Trump administration for considering diplomacy with the North as “nothing more than a tool for grappling its political crisis,” referring to the coronavirus pandemic and the economic toll it has taken on the US, Fox News reported.

Biegun landed at the US Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, where he and his delegation underwent COVID-19 testing upon arrival, leading to a delay in their departure for Seoul, Yonhap reported.

That reportedly led to the cancellation of a dinner that US Ambassador Harry Harris had planned to host for Biegun.

“Out of an abundance of caution and in consultation with Republic of Korea health authorities, Deputy Secretary of State and Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, members of his delegation, and the military air crew are currently undergoing testing for COVID-19 at Osan Air Base,” a US Embassy spokesperson said.

“Upon confirmation that all individuals have received negative test results, the delegation will proceed to Seoul.”

In Seoul, Biegun is expected to hold talks with Lee Do Hoon, Seoul’s nuclear envoy, about ways to break the impasse in the nuclear negotiations with the North, which has resumed testing missiles and other weapons related to its nuclear program.

Nuclear talks between the US and the North have stalled since the no-deal summit in Hanoi last year between Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

The North wanted US sanctions dropped, while the US wanted denuclearization first, a demand Kim rejected outright.

The two sides held working-level talks later that year, but no progress was made.