[Anchor]
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun has arrived in Seoul for a three-day visit.
He is expected to meet with President Moon Jae-in and other government officials as nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington remain stalled with a deadline approaching.
Sehhyeong Kim reports.
[Reporter]
According to Cheong Wa Dae, Biegun will pay a courtesy call on President Moon Jae-in tomorrow morning.
It will mark their second encounter at the presidential office since September last year shortly before the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang.
Biegun is also scheduled to meet with First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Sei-young and his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, before attending a luncheon with Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul.
They are expected to discuss ways to keep up the momentum for dialogue with North Korea and make progress in joint efforts on denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
His trip comes amid heightened tensions in the region following Pyongyang's recent provocative weapons tests ahead of its year-end deadline for Washington to come up with a better nuclear deal.
North Korean military's general staff Pak Jong-chon said his country was using recent tests to develop new technologies and strategic weapons to counter U.S. nuclear threats.
He added that the North has "stored up a tremendous power" and that the army is fully ready to thoroughly carry out any decision of the supreme leader with action.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump have met three times since last year to negotiate the North's denuclearization, but little progress has been made since their working-level talks broke down in Stockholm earlier in October.
Sehhyeong Kim, eFM News.■
<Photo: Yonhap News>
