The top US envoy for North Korea on Monday expressed confidence about achieving North Korea\u2019s nuclear disarmament, despite worries about the slow pace of nuclear diplomacy in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
Meeting with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul, Stephen Biegun said that Washington and Seoul have a shared goal of ending seven decades of hostility on the Korean Peninsula.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe primary requirement for us to get to that endpoint is to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea,\u201d Biegun said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I am absolutely confident that this is within the reach, and I think our two presidents are singularly focused on this goal.\u201d South Korea\u2019s chief nuclear envoy Lee Do-hoon said that \u201cdenuclearization process is at a critical juncture and we need to meet up as often as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since entering nuclear talks earlier this year, North Korea has taken some measures like halting nuclear and missile tests and dismantling its nuclear testing site.<\/p>\n
The United States suspended some its annual military drills with South Korea, but is reluctant to provide the North with big political or economic benefits unless it takes more serious disarmament steps. The North\u2019s closure of its nuclear testing site was watched by foreign journalists, not examined by experts.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his fourth visit to North Korea, and he was coordinating with allies Japan and South Korea to arrange a second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim. The moves brightened prospect for related high-profile U.S.-North Korean exchanges, but no major breakthrough has since been reported.<\/p>\n
US officials later said Trump will likely have his second meeting with Kim early next year. Their first summit in June in Singapore produced the North\u2019s vague disarmament pledge that didn\u2019t include any detailed timetable or roadmap for North Korean steps.<\/p>\n
Separate from nuclear diplomacy, the two Koreas, in coordination with the American-led UN Command based in the South, are taking steps to lower military tension between the rivals.<\/p>\n
The steps, reached last month during an inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, included disarming the Koreas\u2019 border village, clearing mines at a frontline area to launch joint searches for Korean War dead and establishing buffer zones along the border.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Koreas and the U.N. Command finished withdrawing weapons from guard posts at the border village of Panmunjom. The three sides later jointly verified the demilitarization work and the guard posts were sealed on both sides, the U.N. Command said in a statement Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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