South Korea to Biden administration: North Korea is ‘strengthening’ its missile program

South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong is calling on the U.S. government to detail more specific incentives it might offer North Korea in face-to-face negotiations, warning the Biden administration that Pyongyang is using the long-stalled talks to improve its missile and nuclear capabilities.

“If we let the status quo continue, it will lead to the strengthening of North Korean missile capabilities,” Chung said during an interview at the South Korean mission to the United Nations in New York. “We are very concerned about it.”

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“It will be very problematic if North Korean negotiators are not allowed to discuss the nuclear issue with President Biden’s envoy, Sung Kim, as was the case during the Trump years,” said Duyeon Kim, a Korea expert at the Center for a New American Security.

“Pyongyang needs to empower its negotiators and allow negotiations to function properly, rather than trying to force a summit from the get-go.”

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