Hard work still needed before Kim-Trump summit: US envoy
SEOUL, Feb 9 ( AFP) - There was still some hard work to be done ahead of the upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a Washington envoy said Saturday after three days of talks in Pyongyang.
Stephen Biegun, the US Special Representative for North Korea, said preparatory talks had been productive, but more dialogue was needed ahead of the summit scheduled for Vietnam from February 27-28.
Biegun on Saturday briefed South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyun g-w ha on his Pyongyang visit, shortly after Trump revealed the summit would take place in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.
“We have some hard work to do with the DPRK between now and then,” Biegun told Kang, adding: “I'm confident that if both sides stay committed we can make real progress here.
Trump announced Hanoi as the location on Twitter, hailing as “very productive” the preparatory talks between diplomats from the two countries.
“I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim and advancing the cause of peace!” he said.
The State Department said talks during Biegun's threeday trip explored Trump and Kim's “commitments of complete denuclearization, transforming US-DPRK relations and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula”.
It also confirmed Biegun had agreed to meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol again before the summit.
North Korea has yet to provide any official confirmation of the summit and Kim Jong Un appeared to make no mention of it during a meeting earlier with the top brass of the Korean People's Army. The meeting focused on the need to modernise the military while maintaining party discipline in the ranks.