US envoy on N Korea to Europe for nuclear talks
The top United States diplomat on North Korea heads to Europe for talks on removing nuclear weapons from the Asian peninsula, the State Department said on Saturday, a week after an impromptu meeting between US President Donald Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong Un. Special Representative Stephen Biegun will be in Brussels and then Berlin through Thursday to meet Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's special representative on peace and security, among others, reports the Straits Times.
The sessions will "advance our shared efforts to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea", according to the statement. Biegun departs a week after Trump and Kim's meeting at the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean peninsula, an impromptu session both men said would lead to a restart of discussions that collapsed after a meeting in Hanoi in February.
After the one-hour meeting on June 30, US officials were unable to say how Trump's gambit would move Kim any closer to giving up his nuclear ambitions.
A week ago during the Group of 20 leaders' meeting in Japan, Biegun reaffirmed that the US is ready for constructive talks to make progress on the agreement between Trump and Kim.Trump, in a telephone call with British Prime Minister Theresa May last Friday, discussed the "final, fully verified" removal of nuclear weapons in North Korea, among other national security topics, according to a White House statement. They also discussed the nuclear deal with Iran.
The US has warned European allies - who are trying to press forward with the Iran nuclear accord that the US has quit - against using any sanction workarounds to prop up the deal. Trump has also warned Iran over its pledge to enrich more uranium. May will step down this month as British prime minister.
