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| U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun arrives at the foreign ministry in Tokyo, Wednesday, following his two-day trip to South Korea. / AP-Yonhap |
By Jhoo Dong-chan
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun will be promoted to the number two position at the U.S. State Department as the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Biegun as the next deputy secretary of state. The vote was 90-3.
There is also a possibility for Biegun to step in as the top U.S. diplomat in an acting capacity if Secretary of State Mike Pompeo runs for the Senate next year as rumors have alleged.
Biegun, who has served since August 2018 as the Trump administration's top envoy to North Korea, told South Korean reporters during his three-day trip that he will remain in charge of Washington's talks with North Korea even after he becomes deputy state secretary.
Biegun also said during his confirmation hearing last month that he will act independently of the Trump administration and inform the U.S. Congress of any potential wrongdoings as a State Department diplomat.
"Within the processes of the executive branch and in support of policies promulgated by our leadership, you have my guarantee 100 percent," he said.
"And again my words alone don't need to be sufficient here. I have a reputation and experience I fall back upon, over 20 years."
Cheong Wa Dae welcomed Biegun's promotion to the post.
"It displays Washington still desires to maintain momentum for talks with North Korea," a Cheong Wa Dae senior presidential aide said.
North Korean Special Envoy to the U.S. Kim Myong-gil has been Biegun's counterpart in talks for North Korea's denuclearization process, but Biegun has requested that his counterpart should be shifted to First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son-hui once he takes up the post.
State Secretary Mike Pompeo denied rampant speculation that he is preparing to make a run for the Senate in Kansas, declaring the rumors "completely false." If he does run, Biegun will serve as acting state secretary.
Biegun was in China during the Senate vote, a part of Washington's last-ditch attempt to seek resuming Washington's talks with North Korea before the end of the year.
"It is time for us to do our jobs. Let's get this done. We are here, and you know how to reach us," he told North Korea during a media conference in Seoul before his visits to China and Japan.
"The United States does not have a deadline."
However, North Korea is reiterating its position that it won't return to the table unless economic sanctions are lifted. Pyongyang said earlier this month that it will send a "Christmas gift" to the United States, but what the gift contains will depend entirely on Washington.
Multiple experts claimed North Korea's Christmas gift will be a long-range ballistic missile test by the end of the year.
Biegun has served various government posts in foreign policy, including as national security adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, as well as executive secretary of the National Security Council and chief of staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Before he joined the Trump administration, Biegun served as a vice president of international governmental relations for Ford Motor, according to his State Department biography.
Incumbent Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will leave his post to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Russia.
