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US envoy hopes for 'positive' North Korea response

June 21, 2021

President Joe Biden's special envoy for North Korea Sung Kim said he hopes Pyongyang will respond positively to the US' offer to meet "anywhere, anytime, without preconditions."

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US special representative for North Korea Sung Kim is in Seoul for a meeting with South Korean and Japanese officialsImage: Jung Yeon-je/AP Photo/picture alliance

US President Joe Biden's special envoy for North Korea said on Monday he hoped for a positive response to his offer to meet Pyongyang representatives without any conditions. No public contact has been established between the Biden administration and the North Korea since the president took office.

"We continue to hope that the DPRK will respond positively for our outreach and our offer to meet anywhere, anytime, without preconditions," Sung Kim said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name.

Kim is in Seoul for a five-day visit to speak with officials from South Korea and Japan in trilateral meetings to discuss the stalled diplomatic process with North Korea's nuclear program and US-led sanctions.

A former US ambassador to South Korea, he held talks with Seoul's top nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, as well as a trilateral session that included his Tokyo counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi.

From left, U.S. special representative for North Korea Sung Kim, South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk and Japanese Foreign Ministry's Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Takehiro Funakoshi pose for a photo during their trilateral meeting at a hotel in Seoul Monday, June 21, 2021.
The trilateral talks between US, South Korea and Japan followed a North Korean political conference in which Kim Jong Un warned of confrontation but also hinted at dialogue with the USImage: Jung Yeon-je/AP Photo/picture alliance

The talks come soon after a major North Korean political conference, where Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong Un discussed efforts to improve North Korea's economy in the face of pandemic-induced border closures and food shortages.

Last week, local media reported that Kim Jong Un urged his country to prepare for both dialogue and confrontation with the US, emphasizing the latter.

"We will be prepared for either, because you know, we are still waiting to hear back from Pyongyang for a meeting," Sung Kim said. "Hopefully 'dialogue' indicates that we will get a positive response soon."

US observers expect Biden will take a middle path between former President Donald Trump's direct dealings with North Korea and President Barack Obama's policy of "strategic patience." The administration itself previously promised a "practical, calibrated approach" to the reclusive state.

see/msh (Reuters, AP, AFP)