Washington's top nuclear envoy who is currently in Seoul... expressed hopes of continuing dialogue with North Korea despite the regime's latest string of provocations.<br />Our Lee Ji-won has this report. <br />Despite North Korea's recent provocative actions,... the door to dialogue is still open,... according to Washington's special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun. <br /><br />He was quoted by Seoul's foreign ministry as saying so during his 25-minute closed-door meeting with minister Kang Kyung-wha Friday morning.<br />Minister Kang said the North's most recent launches do not help alleviate military tension on the Korean Peninsula,... and called them "very concerning."<br />She added that serious talks are needed between Seoul, Pyeongyang and Washington in order to achieve complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Peninsula. <br />Biegun reportedly agreed with that, and reiterated the importance of their alliance at a time like this. <br /><br />After his sitdown with the minister,... Biegun met with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, Special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs.<br />The two reportedly had an in-depth discussion of how to respond to the North's missile launches. <br /><br />The two nuclear negotiators also hosted their working-group meeting.<br />This time, it was rather a big delegation from Washington,... including the U.S. Mission to the UN, and officials from the Departments of Defense and Treasury. <br /><br />While no details were given on the agenda,... the Foreign Ministry says the two sides shared their assessments on the recent situation and an in-depth discussion of the various ways they can cooperate to achieve their shared goal of denuclearization and peace.<br /><br />South Korea's plans to give humanitarian food aid to the North was one likely topic for Friday's meeting. <br />And despite the recent increase in tension due to the North's missile launches, a source confirmed that the food aid had in fact been brought up during their talks. <br /><br />However, Thursday's missile launches seem to have put Biegun's guard up.<br />He was supposed to field questions from reporters during his way out of the ministry,... but the plan was scrapped at the request of the U.S. side.<br /><br />Biegun also met with other top officials in Seoul in the afternoon,... including the Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul and Kim Hyun-chong, 2nd Deputy Chief of National Security Office.<br />Lee Ji-won, Arirang News. <br />
