The then US Ambassador to the Philippines, Sung Kim, can be seen in 2017. President Biden has named him the US special envoy on North Korean issues. Noel Celis / AFP via Getty Images Hide caption
Toggle labeling
Noel Celis / AFP via Getty Images
The then US Ambassador to the Philippines, Sung Kim, can be seen in 2017. President Biden has named him the US special envoy on North Korean issues.
Noel Celis / AFP via Getty Images
Professional diplomat Sung Kim will serve as the US special envoy for North Korea, President Biden announced on Friday.
The president carried the news along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who spent the day in Washington DC and had bilateral talks with Biden.
Kim, who was US ambassador to Indonesia until recently, was previously special envoy for six-party multilateral talks with North Korea during the Obama years.
Biden said Kim’s “in-depth political expertise” would help fuel diplomatic cooperation efforts with North Korea and “ease tension as we near our ultimate goal of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula”.
In his remarks, Moon said that Kim’s appointment shows the Biden government’s “firm commitment to US diplomacy investigation” with North Korea.
Earlier, Biden said both nations were “deeply concerned” about North Korea, and the US had “consulted closely” with Moon’s team while reviewing its North Korea policy.
Moon’s visit to the White House marks only the second visit by a head of state to the White House during Biden’s presidency and the first bilateral meeting of the Biden era without a mask. This rule was imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden met last month with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in a meeting dictated by protocols made necessary by social distancing.
