Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) affairs, said Wednesday in South Korea that his country was ready to engage in working-level talks with Pyongyang for the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization.
Biegun made the remark after a meeting in Seoul with Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, according to local media reports.
"We are prepared to engage (in a working-level dialogue with the DPRK) as soon as we hear from our counterparts in North Korea (DPRK)," said Biegun.
The U.S. envoy said he will be "fully committed to this important mission" as U.S. President Donald Trump gave him the assignment to resume working-level talks with the DPRK following the U.S. president's meeting with top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un in late June.
Kim and Trump held an impromptu meeting at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom on June 30, agreeing to restart a working-level dialogue to implement the Singapore agreement, signed by the two leaders during their first-ever summit in Singapore in June last year.
The two leaders met again in late February in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, but the second DPRK-U.S. summit ended without any agreement. Under the Singapore deal, Kim and Trump agreed to the complete denuclearization of and the peace settlement in the peninsula.
Biegun arrived here from Japan Tuesday evening for a three-day trip. The U.S. diplomat was scheduled to meet with senior South Korean officials, including Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul.
