Top U.S. nuclear envoy Stephen Biegun is travelling to Europe to sit down with officials on North Korea's final, fully verified denuclearization.
His South Korean counterpart is also in Europe this week,... and watchers are seeing this as a chance for Seoul and Washington to coordinate before the North and the U.S. resume working-level talks.
Kim Hyo-sun tells us more.
Stephen Biegun, Washington's point-man on North Korea, will travel to Europe Monday for talks with his South Korean counterpart and European officials on measures to achieve Pyeongyang's final, fully verified denuclearization.
The U.S. State Department explained that Biegun's four-day visit to Brussels and Berlin is aimed at advancing Washington's shared efforts to bring about the regime's FFVD.
Seoul's foreign ministry says Lee Do-hoon, Seoul's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will visit Germany this week to hold meetings with Biegun and German officials.
There are high hopes for the meetings as they follow the announcement of the resumption of Pyeongyang-Washington working-level talks by U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un when they had a hastily-arranged encounter at the DMZ late last month.
The focus is on whether the talks could lead to another summit between Kim and Trump.
The officials are expected to discuss details of Washington's corresponding measures to Pyeongyang - including humanitarian aid and the establishment of a liaison office.
It's left to be seen whether they will also touch upon the issue of resuming the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mount Kumgang tourism project.
Some analysts also predict Biegun could meet with North Korean officials in Europe.
Ahead of the second North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Biegun held a series of meetings in Sweden with the North's Vice Foreign Minister Choi Son-hui in January.
Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News.