The State Department’s top envoy on North Korea said Thursday that the US is not looking to invade that nation and seemed to strongly signal that the US would be willing to formally end the Korean War.
The North Koreans have pushed for the US to commit to a formal peace treaty to end the decades-old conflict. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-In pledged to bring a formal end to the Korean War during their landmark summit last April.
In his remarks at Stanford, Biegun also knocked down the prospect that the US would agree to withdraw troops from South Korea as a concession to Kim — a move that some were concerned President Donald Trump might make.
“We are not involved in any diplomatic discussion — full stop — that would suggest this tradeoff. It has never been discussed,” Biegun said.
Biegun’s remarks sought to shed a positive light on the “progress” made in relations between the US and the Hermit Kingdom. However, the ultimate goal of the “final, fully verified denuclearization” of North Korea still remains largely out of reach, according to an intelligence assessment released this week. Sources told CNN that the discussion around this goal during North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol’s visit to Washington, DC, earlier this month also “got nowhere.”
“It is fair to say we have more work ahead of us than behind us,” Biegun acknowledged. However, he also took aim at the intelligence assessment, saying he “entirely (shares) President Trump’s frustration with the way this intelligence information was briefed and played out.”
On Wednesday, Trump publicly chastised his intelligence officials after they contradicted several of his foreign policy claims during a Senate hearing the day prior. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said that North Korea “is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons.
