US envoy for DPRK to meet S. Korean counterpart to discuss denuclearisation

US special envoy on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will meet his South Korean counterpart here on Tuesday to discuss denuclearisation and ties, the US State Department said.

Stephen Biegun, US special representative for the DPRK issue, will hold talks with Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs to talk about ongoing diplomatic efforts on the peninsula denuclearisation, UN sanctions on Pyongyang and inter-Korean cooperation, said the department in a statement.

The high-level US-South Korean officials' meeting came amid the stalled negotiations between the DPRK and the US on the peninsula's denuclearisation, as a meeting planned this month between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a senior DPRK official in New York was postponed, Xinhua reported on Monday.

The DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday that the country had decided to deport a US citizen detained for illegally entering the country.

Pompeo said later on Friday that the US appreciates the release of an American citizen by the DPRK. The State Department, however, declined to identify the citizen and did not give details about him.

Also on Friday, the KCNA reported that the DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un visited the testing ground of the Academy of Defence Science and supervised the test of a newly developed ultramodern tactical weapon.

--IANS

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