U.S., Japan and South Korea to discuss U.S.-North Korea talks during Washington meet

SEOUL/TOKYO – Senior government officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea will meet in Washington this week to discuss the outcome of U.S.-North Korea working-level talks, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said Monday.

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, who represented the United States in the weekend talks with North Korean counterpart Kim Myong Gil in Stockholm, is expected to brief his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.

Lee Do-hoon, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and Shigeki Takizaki, chief of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at the Foreign Ministry, will visit Washington to gather information, according to the South Korean and Japanese governments.

The U.S.-North Korea talks had raised expectations of progress toward denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula but the two sides characterized the outcome differently.

The United States said they had “good discussions” while North Korea said the talks “broke off.”

Lee, who is visiting the United States from Monday to Thursday, plans to hold a separate meeting with Biegun, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

Takizaki will also receive a briefing by the U.S. side in Washington on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference.

“We will continue to support the U.S.-North Korean (dialogue) process so we can achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the top government spokesman said.