South Korean, US nuclear envoys discuss North Korea

The US special envoy for North Korea policy met with senior South Korean officials Monday for talks on bilateral issues and North Korea.

Ambassador Sung Kim held closed-door meetings with Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun and Hwang Joon-kook, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, while visiting the country to participate in an international forum on Korean reunification, Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday.

"We discussed a broad range of issues, bilateral issues and our coordination on North Korea," he said as he left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the meetings.

His visit came a month after he held trilateral talks in Seoul with Hwang and their Japanese counterpart, Junichi Ihara. After the meeting, the three sides announced that they had agreed to enhance pressure on North Korea to return to the six-party denuclearization talks that have been stalled since late 2008.

From Seoul, Amb. Kim is scheduled to fly to Tokyo on Thursday for meetings with senior Japanese officials, including Ihara.