Correction (July 20, 2021 at 9:38 a.m. KST): This article has been updated to reflect that Donald Trump visited the DMZ in June 2019.

In an exclusive interview with NK News, former top U.S. envoy on North Korea Stephen Biegun attributed the failure of the 2019 Hanoi summit in part to his counterparts’ lack of authority to negotiate during working-level talks, while also concluding that Pyongyang empowered its foreign ministry to assume responsibility for negotiations with the U.S. from the United Front Department following the summit.