South Korea's nuclear envoy visits U.S. as tensions flare with North Korea

FILE PHOTO: US special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun (L) attends a media briefing with South Korea's 'special representative for Korean peninsula peace and security affairs' Lee Do-hoon (R) at the foreign ministry in Seoul, South Korea December 16, 2019. Ed Jones/Pool via REUTERS

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator will hold talks with officials in Washington on Thursday amid flaring tensions with North Korea after Pyongyang blew up an inter-Korean liaison office and threatened military action.

Lee Do-hoon's unannounced trip came days after North Korea blew up a joint liaison office in Kaesong, near the South Korean border and declared an end to dialogue with the South.