U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun (pictured), currently in South Korea, publicly proposed a meeting during his stay to North Korea.

In a public press conference after discussions with Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs at the foreign ministry in Seoul on December 16, Biegun said, ”Let me speak directly to our counterparts in North Korea,” and continued, “It is time for us to do our jobs. Let’s get this done. We are here, and you know how to reach us.”

As for the “end-of-year deadline” presented by North Korea, Biegun said, “The United States does not have a deadline; we have a goal--to fulfill the commitments the two leaders made during their historic summit in Singapore,” and added that the U.S. would not give up, despite that they failed to make as much progress as had been expected. Biegun also said, “It is not yet too late,” but added that the U.S. could not do it alone and called for support from the North.

Biegun described the recent statements and comments threatening the U.S. as “hostile and negative and so unnecessary” and pointed out that they did not contribute to maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula.

During the press conference, Lee Do-hoon said, “We had a very good discussion with Special Representative Biegun,” and added that the special representative “stressed that there was no change to U.S. determination to resolve the issue of denuclearization through diplomacy and dialogue.” Lee said, “We also reaffirmed that all issues of interest to North Korea will be discussed in depth when negotiations resume.”

Earlier, Biegun expressed his wishes to meet Choe Son-hui, North Korea’s first vice minister of foreign affairs, while he was in Seoul, but failed to receive a reply from the North. This appears to be why he publicly requested a meeting this day. Now attention is on whether Biegun, who is scheduled to remain in Seoul until the morning of December 17, will be able to meet with North Korean officials at Panmunjom.

After the press conference, Biegun met with President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae. The president asked for continuing efforts from Biegun in order to remove nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula and establish peace in the region. According to Cheong Wa Dae, Biegun said there was no change to his unwillingness to give up, and that he was determined to do his utmost in order to achieve the historical task of denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and negotiations.

In a reception to celebrate his nomination as the assistant secretary of state, organized by the foreign ministry, Biegun said that in the future, he would maintain the highest level of interest and cooperate (with South Korea and Japan) for progress on issues concerning the Korean Peninsula. Biegun is scheduled to leave for Japan on the afternoon of December 17 after attending to some unofficial arrangements including meetings with other major figures.

■ Maintaining the Suspension of Both the ROK-US Military Exercises and North Korean Nuclear and Missile Tests Will Be Critical to NK-US Negotiations

On December 16, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun publicly proposed a meeting with North Korea in order to prevent the situation from heading toward a clash, as the “year-end deadline” proposed by North Korea approaches. It may have been intended to ease some of the burden on North Korea, which set the deadline, and seek a way to save the faces of both North Korea and the U.S.

This day, Biegun read a statement, which he had prepared for the press conference at the foreign ministry pressroom, which was unusual. It suggests an intention to officially deliver a message to North Korea, as well as create an excuse to respond, if talks with North Korea don’t go through leading to provocations from North Korea. It also suggests problems in the channel of communication with North Korea.

Biegun, who entered office in August 2018, expressed his position to the reporters inside and outside the government office when he visited South Korea in the past, but he had never held an official press conference in the pressroom. The U.S. special representative began his statement by saying, “Let me speak directly to our counterparts in North Korea,” and stared straight into the camera. He seemed to have North Korea’s comment about a “Christmas gift” in mind, when he said, “Christmas is one of the most sacred days on our calendar.” He also expressed his wishes to open an era of peace on this day.

Biegun probably had a meeting at Panmunjom with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son-hui (pictured), the first vice minister of foreign affairs in mind when he proposed the talks. In the past, the U.S. had several working-level meetings at Panmunjom when preparing for the two summits with North Korea. If North Korea responds, it could provide a breakthrough and change the mood in the current relationship between the two countries. This is why eyes are on whether or not North Korea will respond.

However, if the U.S. is simply suggesting, “Let’s meet and talk,” it is not likely for the meeting to take place. The U.S. will need to make a proposal to begin talks, if it is to draw a response from North Korea. Biegun had a private luncheon with Minister of Unification Kim Yeon-chul and said that the U.S. was getting ready for a balanced agreement through adequate steps and flexible measures, which suggests that the U.S. may be willing to accept some of North Korea’s position.

North Korea has told the U.S. to bring new calculations to the table as the prerequisite for denuclearization talks. Although the North did not specifically state what those new calculations were, we can guess what they are based on the statement released by Kim Myong-gil, a “roving ambassador” of the North Korean foreign ministry, in the working-level talks with the U.S. in Stockholm in October. At the time, Kim listed three major items: the easing of sanctions on North Korea, the suspension of joint military exercises with South Korea, and the suspension of deploying state-of-the-art weapons to the Korean Peninsula. North Korea argued that it could begin denuclearization negotiations with the U.S. when these three conditions were met.

It is impossible for the U.S. to accept all three requests. One government source said, “The U.S. will have to review these issues in order to resume talks, but with the presidential election approaching, North Korea probably isn’t expecting U.S. President Donald Trump to accept all their requests.”

Realistically, it seems likely for the suspension of military exercises with South Korea to be the common ground with North Korean requests to allow talks to resume. The ROK-US joint military exercises are one of the threats that North Korea is most uncomfortable with, and President Trump has also mentioned an end to the drills on several occasions. In the past, the basic backbone of dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. was also the suspension of both nuclear and missile tests by North Korea and of joint military exercises by South Korea and the U.S. This is why some experts believe there could be room for negotiations, if the U.S. proposes a complete suspension of joint military exercises while the negotiations are in progress and asks North Korea to maintain its moratorium on nuclear tests and missile launches.

One diplomatic source familiar with North Korea-U.S. talks said, “The first button to resume talks will be to maintain the double suspension,” and pointed out, “However, it is important to clearly state the obligations that the two sides must meet by suspending both actions with an official agreement, instead of relying on voluntary actions by North Korea and the U.S. as in the past.”

The U.S. could propose to the North that the two countries resume talks on condition that they both maintain the suspensions, and then discuss ways to adjust sanctions with denuclearization measures, which is North Korea’s key interest in the working-level talks. If the North accepts this proposal, President Trump will be able to safely hold the presidential elections while continuing to promote his “diplomatic feat” concerning North Korea. North Korea would get an important measure to assure the safety of the regime and have “strategic room” to observe Trump’s election results without any friction with the U.S. This is why experts believe it’s worth a try.

This day, Biegun met with several senior officials from the foreign ministry, unification ministry and Cheong Wa Dae as well as President Moon Jae-in. He also met Cho Sei-young, first vice minister of foreign affairs ahead of his meeting with Lee do-hoon, and discussed the peace process on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea-U.S. relations, and South Korea-Japan relations. Biegun is currently awaiting the vote in the Senate, and if he is officially appointed assistant secretary of state, he will be Vice Minister Cho’s counterpart. According to the foreign ministry, Cho and Biegun decided to closely discuss ways to smoothly resolve issues between the two countries. This afternoon, Biegun visited the U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi-do and attended a reception hosted by the South Korean and U.S. foreign affairs authorities in the evening.