강경화 "북 대화복귀 전방위 노력…미국과 워킹그룹 개선 논의"
South Korea's Foreign Minister says that Seoul will continue making full efforts to bring North Korea back to the nuclear negotiations.
She added Seoul and Washington are communicating on various levels... to make happen another summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un.
Hong Yoo files us this report from Seoul's foreign ministry.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the government will focus on managing the situation on the Korean peninsula, but won't let its guard down.• .
"We will keep a close watch and maintain preparedness while focusing on our efforts to continue the momentum for dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. and between the two Koreas."
Kang also said that the foreign ministry is communicating with the U.S. to try and arrange a summit between North Korea and the U.S. before November's U.S. presidential elections.
This follows President Moon Jae-in's statement in the South Korea-EU virtual summit on Tuesday, where he said he would do his best to try and make such a summit happen.
Kang added that the special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, Lee Do-hoon's visit to the U.S. in mid-June was in line with such effort.
Amid speculation that the U.S. deputy secretary of state Stephen Biegun is planning to visit South Korea this month, Minister Kang refused to confirm the information but said they are working on a U.S. senior official's visit to South Korea.
She added that South Korea and the U.S. are discussing ways to improve the operation of the bilateral "working group" forum.
The working group was first established in 2018 as an arena to discuss the denuclearization of North Korea and other issues regarding the two Koreas and the U.S.
Hong Yoo, Arirang News.
