Twenty U.S Representatives to Visit North

The U.S assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, James Kelly is going to visit North Korea from October 3rd to Oct 5th as a special envoy of the U.S.

Spokesperson of the White House, Ari Fleischer stated on 26th, “President George.W.Bush requested assistant secretary Kelly to visit Pyongyang from October 3rd to Oct 5th as leading representative of the government.”

Spokesperson Fleischer said, “assistant secretary Kelly, following President Bush announced intention of comprehensive talks with North Korea, will pursue promotion of current issues which the U.S and the international society have been concerned about in close co-operation with the South Korea and Japan.”

The U.S representatives are reported to be twenty in number besides assistant secretary Kelly, such as Ñambassador of state in charge for Korean peninsula peace, Jack Pritchard Ñ Director of Korea, David strove Ñ Chief of NSC in the White House in charge of Korea and Japan, Michael Green and state concerned.

One of state concerned said, “special envoy Kelly is likely to raise issues such as production and export of WMD, human rights, and verification of distribution of food to North Korea.”

He also emphasized stance of Bush administration that it will not talk with North Korea like ‘talk for talk’, saying, “the U.S will have a talk with the North Korea for comprehension and resolution.” Assistant secretary Kelly is going to visit Seoul on 2nd for talks on the North with South Korean government and will explain the result of visiting North Korea in Seoul on 5th, after returning from the North.

He will also visit Japan before and after visit to the North. On the other hand, government concerned prospected on 27th, saying, “ we will deliver our intention for improvement of the North-U.S relationship in meeting with special envoy Kelly before visit to the North.” And “just one talk might not solve the whole matter, however, we can’t ignore that the speed of solution would be faster than we expect.”

Spokesperson of ministry of foreign affairs and trade, Seok Dong-yeon, commented to welcome the U.S special envoy’s visit to the North, saying, “I hope that serious discussion on mutual interest between the U.S and the North will be achieved by U.S representatives visit.”

Ki-Heung Han Young-Sik Kim eligius@donga.com spear@donga.com