High-level NK defector to visit DC in April

The highest ranking North Korean official ever to defect to South Korea may visit the United States to attend a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on North Korea, which is slated to take place in April.

Hwang Jang-Yop, former secretary of the (North) Korean Workers Party and confidant-cum-mentor of North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Il, was confirmed Sunday to have sent a letter to Sen. Jesse Helms, chairman of the committee, thanking the Senator for an invitation to the hearing and voicing his willingness to visit Washington at anytime.

Hwang received the invitation last year but told Helms that his untoward circumstances at the time obliged him to postpone the proposed visit until after October 2001. He wrote to the Senate leader that there was now nothing preventing him from traveling to the United States.

Last November, Helms invited Hwang to visit the United States in February, promising to arrange meetings with congressmen, State Department officials, human rights activists and North Korea watchers and policy analysts.

A source at the Senate said the date of the North Korea hearings has not been set but that they would probably take place in April. When the specific date is fixed, Helms will renew his invitation to Hwang, the source said.

A National Intelligence Service official here Monday denied reports that Hwang has been promoting a March trip to the U.S. What was described as Hwang`s favorable response to the invitation was made out of courtesy, he said, suggesting the possibility of a visit only if Seoul and Washington settle all matters related to security and itinerary.

Kim Young-Sik eligius@donga.com