Biegun: Pyongyang could break out of the shell sending Kim Yo Jong to Panmunjom.

United States Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun reportedly assessed Wednesday that North Korea seems to attempt to break out of the shell to engage in dialogue as Pyongyang sent Workers’ Party of Korea First Vice Director Kim Yo Jong to Panmunjom to pay condolences to the death of former First Lady Lee Hee-ho of South Korea.

It was delivered to the Dong-A Ilbo on Friday by a participant in a meeting held at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York where Biegun made such remarks on North Korea. Reportedly, Biegun exchanged a wide range of opinions on denuclearization talks with North Korea in discussion with other experts including former high-ranking officials at the State Department.

It has been released that the South Korean foreign affairs authorities have embarked on the scheduling on details and topic items on the agenda on Biegun’s visit to South Korea before the upcoming Seoul-Washington summit talk scheduled in late June. Biegun will make a joint speech with South Korea’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon at the Atlantic Council, one of the U.S. thinktanks, on next Wednesday.


Gi-Jae Han record@donga.com