US keeps China in loop on North Korea with briefing on Trump-Kim talks

US envoy Stephen Biegun says US ‘willing to improve communication and coordination’

Beijing says it supports efforts to find peace, though analysts say it will have little involvement in actual negotiations

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Whatever obstacles remain in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, China wants to be involved. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:30pm, 6 Jul 2019Updated: 11:43pm, 6 Jul 2019

The United States is willing to improve communication and coordination with China on issues regarding the Korean peninsula, an American envoy told Beijing in a telephone call on Friday, after US President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last weekend.

The call to China’s vice-foreign minister Luo Zhaohui was made by US special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, according to a statement published by China’s foreign ministry on Saturday.

Luo said in the statement that the recent interactions on peninsula issues were key to promoting peace talks and that China supported the US and North Korea in keeping communication channels open.

“We hope the two sides meet each other halfway and resume consultations at the working level as soon as possible, based on the consensus reached by their leaders,” the statement said.

Negotiations on the removal of North Korea’s nuclear weapons stalled earlier this year. Photo: AP

The call came after a series of events in recent weeks that have sent positive signals about a possible restart of the negotiations between the US and North Korea on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, after a summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi in February was cut short.