Japanese Media: "South Korea Tried to Mediate North America During Biegun's Visit"…Foreign Ministry "Unfounded"

Steven Biegun, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and Special Representative for North Korea, visited Kang Kyung-wha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Seoul on the morning of the 8th, showing a bright expression.

Steven Biegun, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and Special Representative for North Korea, recently visited South Korea, during which the South Korean government attempted to mediate denuclearization talks between North Korea and the United States, but the effort did not materialize, according to a report by Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun on the 22nd. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the report.

Yomiuri, citing sources from South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, reported from Seoul that Lee Do-hoon, head of the South Korean Ministry of Unification's Peace Negotiation Office for the Korean Peninsula, proposed during a meeting with Deputy Secretary Biegun during his visit to the U.S. last month, saying, "It would be good to work towards holding a North Korea-U.S. summit. South Korea will actively take on the role of mediator," and that both sides tried to coordinate their intentions but failed to find common ground.

During Biegun's visit to South Korea from the 7th to the 9th, the U.S. side discussed conditions for holding a North Korea-U.S. summit with South Korea, considering the possibility of contacting the North at Panmunjom. South Korea proposed to "persuade North Korea to take additional denuclearization measures beyond the dismantlement of the Yongbyon nuclear facility, referred to as 'Yongbyon+α'." South Korea mentioned the dismantlement of a secret uranium enrichment facility located in Gangseon, on the outskirts of Pyongyang, as the α beyond Yongbyon, but the U.S. reportedly responded that this alone was insufficient.

The U.S. set a condition requiring North Korea to submit a list revealing the status of the secret missile research facility in Sanum-dong, believed to be where intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are manufactured. Yomiuri also reported that the U.S. demanded a comprehensive declaration of all nuclear development plans, full access for the U.S. and international inspection teams to visit the sites, and a halt to all nuclear-related activities and construction of new facilities.

South Korea relayed the U.S. demands to North Korea behind the scenes, but North Korea responded that "without a clear stance on U.S. economic sanctions against North Korea, North Korea-U.S. dialogue is meaningless," and ultimately, no North Korea-U.S. contact occurred during Biegun's visit, Yomiuri reported.

During this visit, Deputy Secretary Biegun conveyed a clear position that "the South Korea-U.S. Working Group will continue," and checked South Korea's attempts to independently support North Korea, Yomiuri reported. The South Korea-U.S. Working Group is a working-level consultative body that frequently coordinates issues such as denuclearization, inter-Korean cooperation, and sanctions against North Korea, with Lee Do-hoon and Biegun serving as chief representatives for South Korea and the U.S., respectively.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official stated, "The article is groundless," and added, "The government has never made such proposals."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.