Pompeo names Ford exec as special envoy to North Korea

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has named a senior executive with Ford Motor Company to be the State Department’s special representative for North Korea.

Stephen Biegun, Ford’s vice president of international governmental affairs, will travel with Pompeo to Pyongyang next week, the top U.S. diplomat announced Thursday.

Biegun will take over the day-to-day talks concerning North Korea’s “final, fully verifiable denuclearization,” he said in remarks.

“Steve is taking the reigns of a great team effort,” Pompeo said.

Pompeo so far has led negotiations with North Korea to attempt to push the nation to dismantle its nuclear program, making three trips to the isolated country since April.

Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Singapore in June, when the two leaders signed a joint statement that committed Pyongyang “to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

That statement, however, included no specifics on how that would be achieved, and White House national security adviser John Bolton said earlier this month that North Korea “has not taken the steps we feel are necessary to denuclearize.”

Prior to his stint at Ford, Biegun was a national security adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

He also served as a senior staffer to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice during President George W. Bush’s administration, and was chief operating officer for the National Security Council.

In addition, Biegun was the top foreign relations adviser on Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign.

Ford’s company website notes that Biegun will retire on Aug. 31.