▲ Stephen Biegun visits South Korea on December 15th, for three days.

It's been three months after the last visit in August. One of the prominent reasons for a visit is North Korea. The U.S. and South Korea will discuss the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula in depth. Although Biegun referred to the name of Choi Seon-hee, the first vice foreign minister of North Korea as his negotiation partner, there is a low possibility of meeting between them. Despite that, it is expected for Biegun to make a professed message to North Korea, as he did in the last visit in December 2018. He is also considering the visit to DMZ, according to the Foreign Ministry of Korea.

There are expectations that the result of Biegun's visit will affect the situation in the Korean Peninsula a lot. The situation now is really bad. North Korea has conducted some 'crucial test'. After working-level negotiations in Stockholm, Sweden in October, North Korea is requesting America's 'new calculation'. North Korea will not resume the negotiation until that and keep implying the possible military provocation. So, if Biegun makes an advanced remark or conciliatory message to North Korea, it will be a breakthrough in stalled U.S.-North Korea relationship.

▲ Although the possibility is low, Biegun may meet Choi Seon-hee, hands-on person of North Korea.

Unfortunately, experts expect that the possibility of the U.S.-North Korea meeting is not that big. Though both sides did not break the negotiation, they remain firm in their existing positions. Kelly Kraft, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., mentioned a "flexible approach" at a U.S. Security Council meeting on North Korea in New York on Wednesday but reaffirmed her previous stance on denuclearization. North Korea, on the other hand, insists that the U.S. must take corresponding measures to negotiate with the North because it has taken preemptive measures such as halting nuclear and continental ballistic missile tests and scrapping its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri.

▲ North Korea keeps on their provocation.

Because of this, some say that the confrontation between the U.S. and North Korea may be intensified if Biegun's visit does not make any remarkable change in their relationship. Anyway, it is clear that Biegun's visit will be a crucial point to South Korea's diplomacy.

December 14th, 2019

by Shin Seung-won