When the US envoy for North Korea’s trip to Japan and South Korea was announced last Friday, his brief was to get talks on denuclearisation back on track. But Stephen Biegun’s task suddenly looks more difficult following North Korea’s series of weapons tests on Saturday.
Mr Biegun will travel this week to Tokyo and Seoul, where he will meet Lee Do-hoon, South Korea’s top nuclear envoy, against a backdrop of mounting fears that Pyongyang will conduct more tests.
Experts are also questioning the US’s insistence that sanctions should not be lifted unless North Korea destroys its entire nuclear programme. Kim Jong Un wants a step-by-step deal whereby sanctions are lifted for each phase of denuclearisation.
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