New US representative for NK to visit next week

By Kim Bo-eun

Stephen Biegun

Stephen Biegun, the new U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, is set to visit Seoul early next week.

He is expected to be briefed by South Korean envoys about their visit to Pyongyang. The envoys will visit Pyongyang Wednesday, to arrange the date of an inter-Korean summit this month, and also discuss denuclearization and ways to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Biegun will also meet with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha as well as his counterpart Lee Do-hoon, the foreign ministry said.

“It will be an opportunity to share the South Korean government's stance and hear about that of the U.S.,” a ministry official told reporters.

The official's visit will be made at a critical time when denuclearization talks between North Korea and the U.S. appear stalled after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Pyongyang was canceled, citing lack of progress on the part of North Korea in taking denuclearization steps.

Biegun's visit to Seoul will be part of a tour of Northeast Asian countries including Japan, as he begins work as the U.S. Special Representative for North Korea. Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea Mark Lambert will be accompanying him. Lambert will focus on assisting Biegun on North Korean affairs, according to reports.

The U.S. State Department appointed Biegun to the position on Aug. 23.

He previously served as vice president of International Governmental Affairs for the Ford Motor Company.

Prior to that position, he spent more than a decade as a foreign policy adviser to members of both chambers of Congress.

Biegun also worked in the White House from 2001 to 2003 as executive secretary of the National Security Council, under President George W. Bush.