U.S. Special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun arrived here in the South Korea on Sunday to meet with his North Korean counterpart.
The U.S. State Department released a media note yesterday, saying that Biegun will travel to Pyeongyang on February 6th for his meeting with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok-chol.
It added the meeting is to prepare for the upcoming second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, and also to advance further progress on the commitments the two leaders made at their Singapore summit
namely: the complete denuclearization, transforming North Korea-U.S. relations, and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
And while President Trump has depicted the ongoing nuclear negotiations in a positive light, his envoy stressed the U.S. has (quote)"contingencies" in case the negotiations fail.
But Biegun added the U.S. is ready to pursue the denuclearization process "simultaneously and in parallel" -- meaning both sides will have to make concessions along the way.
He also reaffirmed that the U.S. wants to resolve the matter peacefully.
Over 60 percent of the South Koreans seeking reunions with family members separated from them by the 1950-53 Korean War are aged 80 or older, government data showed Tuesday, highlighting the urgency of the issue.
Among 55,987 South Korean survivors who have registered to be reunited with their long-lost loved ones in North Korea, 34,546, or 61.7 percent, were aged 80 or older as of December, according to the unification ministry data.
A total of 133,208 South Koreans have signed up as separated family members since 1988. Of those, 77,221 have died in the past three decades, including 322 people in December alone.
South Korea had pushed to hold a round of video reunions around the Lunar New Year's Day holiday, but the plan failed to materialize as more time was needed to win sanctions exemptions for equipment that would have to be sent to the North for the event.
President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed at their third summit in Pyongyang in September to cooperate in allowing separated families to hold video reunions and exchange video messages.
The U.S. State Department saysSeoul and Washington have reached an agreement 'in principle' on defense cost sharing.
A State Department official told Yonhap News Agency on Monday, that the two sides reached an agreement in principle on a new Special Measures Agreement, a five-year contract that expired in December.
The final agreement is expected to be made within this week.
The official added that the two sides are working to solve the remaining technical issues as quickly as possibleand the U.S. appreciates the resources that Korea provides to support the alliance.
Meanwhile, CNN reported on the same day that the two sides have reached a preliminary agreement, saying South Korea would boost its financial contribution to nearly 1-billion U.S. dollars per year.
Last week, South Korea laid to rest a victim of wartime sexual slavery by Japan -- the late Kim Bok-dong, venerated as an activist against sexual violence and for justice.
She's being remembered outside Korea as well.
A memorial service for Kim was held in San Francisco on Sunday local time by organizations in the Korean community there and by a group called the Comfort Women Justice Coalition.
As Kim had for decades, the participants called for Japan to apologize sincerely for its crimes against women and girls during World War Two.
Also, in Japan, a pro-North Korean newspaper called the Chosun Sinbo, published a poem in Kim's memory, that said "Kim Bok-dong's beautiful dreams are deeply embedded in the hearts of Koreans in Japan.
Source: Arirang News
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