US prepared to resume talks with North Korea: Envoy

The United States is prepared to resume nuclear negotiations with North Korea as soon as Pyongyang is ready, a senior US diplomat says.

According to reports, US special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, who is in Seoul for talks with South Korean officials, told reporters on Wednesday, “We are prepared to engage as soon as we hear from our counterparts in North Korea.”

Biegun said US President Donald Trump had assigned his team to restart working-level talks with North Korea in line with what Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed on during a third meeting in late June.

“I am fully committed to this important mission and we will get this done,” the US envoy said.

Beigun’s South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, also announced that the two had discussed how to quickly resume the nuclear negotiations with North Korea and produce “substantial progress.”

Earlier this month, Trump said that he had received a “beautiful” three-page letter from Kim and that the North Korean leader called for the resumption of nuclear talks after the US-South Korean joint drills ended on August 20.

Pyongyang censured the 10-day annual drills and carried out its own missile tests.

SS