US envoy fails to meet North Korea's senior diplomat

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, right, chats with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon upon arriving at Gimpo International Airport, Tuesday afternoon, for his departure to Tokyo, Japan. Biegun failed to meet North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui during his three-day stay in South Korea. Yonhap

China, Russia propose lifting a portion of UNSC sanctions

By Kim Yoo-chul

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun failed to meet a senior North Korean diplomat at the North's side of the Joint Security Area, also known as Panmunjeom, despite his open request for the high-profile meeting to resume stalled denuclearization talks.

"Efforts by intelligence officials between South Korea and the United States to make Biegun's direct encounter with North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui actually happen at Panmunjeom went in vain as Pyongyang didn't respond to the request," a senior South Korean intelligence official told The Korea Times by telephone, Tuesday.

After wrapping up his three-day visit to Seoul, the senior Washington official left for Tokyo for talks with Japanese officials on the North Korean nuclear issue. The intelligence official added Biegun had planned to pass on U.S. President Donald Trump's "personal messages" for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the senior North Korean diplomat if the meeting had happened.

Biegun to visit China to discuss North Korea 2019-12-18 10:25  |  North Korea
Biegun said repeatedly that he would like to meet Choe saying she had Kim Jong-un's confidence and would be his official North Korean counterpart. Speaking at a rare news conference on the second day of his Seoul visit, the U.S. government official addressed North Korean authorities directly and outspokenly, saying: "It's time for us to do our jobs. Let's get this done. We are here and you know how to reach us."

In an attempt to appeal to North Korean authorities, Biegun stressed the U.S.' readiness to apply "flexible, creative and parallel approaches" toward North Korea to break the impasse, after working-level discussions between Washington and Pyongyang nuclear negotiators held in Stockholm, Sweden, were broken off.

North Korea suggested earlier that it has lots of different thoughts and plans for the upcoming Christmas holiday season. It warned the United States to prepare for a "Christmas gift," which some political observers and analysts here have interpreted as a sign that the North could test fire advanced long-range ballistic missiles.

The North's unresponsiveness over the request by Biegun came after China and Russia proposed lifting a portion of sanctions imposed on the North in a draft United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution. Beijing and Moscow are long-time backers on North Korea in almost all aspects from politics to economics and they have permanent seats on the UNSC.

The updated resolution calls on the UNSC to phase out certain measures towards North Korea in recognition of Pyongyang staying away from nuclear testing and its commitment to complete denuclearization. The resolution also argues that the inter-Korean railroad project should be exempted from sanctions, along with materials used for its construction, said officials.

"We are not sure whether or not the North's refusal of Biegun's meeting request was because of the proposal by China and Russia to the UNSC. South Korean intelligence agencies are teaming up with U.S. and Japanese counterparts to analyze core implications of the North's refusal to accept the meeting request by Biegun," a senior ruling Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker said, separately.

Since the very beginning of the denuclearization talks, the North has asked the United States to offer "clear and visible sanctions relief" in return for presenting comprehensive denuclearization steps. But the United States has already rejected any possibility of sanctions relief asking North Korea to return to the negotiating table.

"The situation isn't looking good. As the North Korea-set year-end deadline on denuclearization talks is approaching, the North didn't want to see a meeting for a meeting's sake. As U.S. President Trump has been embracing the risk of personal diplomacy with the North in the process, chances are low for the North to return to the dialogue table if doesn't get what it wants from Washington," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

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