(LEAD) Moon meets U.S. envoy on N. Korea at Cheong Wa Dae

All News 15:27 June 22, 2021

(ATTN: UPDATES headline, lead paras with meeting; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, June 22 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in met with Sung Kim, the Joe Biden administration's special envoy on North Korean affairs Tuesday.

Moon and Kim had a closed-door meeting at Cheong Wa Dae right after a brief photo session, which pool reporters were allowed to cover. They did not make any routine opening statement in public.

Moon's office is expected to brief media on the results of the session later in the day.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (R) and U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim pose for a commemorative photo at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on June 22, 2021. (Yonhap)

Kim is on his first visit here since being appointed as Washington's "special representative" for Pyongyang.

President Biden announced his pick of the Korean American career diplomat right after holding a summit with Moon at the White House in late May.

The move was widely viewed as reflecting the Biden administration's hope for dialogue with North Korea.

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un publicly called on his regime to gear up for "both dialogue and confrontation" with the U.S. in consideration of the "policy tendency" of its new government.

The U.S. envoy, meanwhile, had discussions with Seoul's chief nuclear envoy Noh Kyu-duk on Monday and sat down with Unification Minister Lee In-young on Tuesday morning.