Roh’s Special Envoy Visits Washington Early January

President-elect Roh Moo Hyun has decided to send a senior delegation including his special envoy to Washington early January next year to discuss detailed ways to resolve North Korean nuclear issues. The decision came on Tuesday and after the decision, he set out to prepare South Korea’s position to be conveyed to the United States and form the delegation.

Within Roh’s camp, however, it is reported that in dealing with the North, hawks and doves are confronting each other. The hard-liners insist that a strong message should be sent to Pyongyang to prevent it from misinterpreting Roh’s "principle of peaceful settlement." On the other hand, the doves assert that Pyongyang should be brought to the negotiating table first and given an opportunity to explain its position.

At a press meeting, Roh’s chief secretary, Shin Gye Ryun, said, "President-elect Roh takes the North’ disclosure of its secretive weapons development program seriously, so a visit by Roh’s special envoy to Washington could be advanced." He added that highest-level officials within the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) were likely to go to the US and the party was setting up a task force team for the North Korean issues.

The delegation is reported to include Rep. Jeong Dae Chul, a supreme council member,

Rep. Ryu Jae Gun, and Rep. Jo Sun Seung, and former Prime Minister Lee Hong Gu, who also served as ambassador to the US, is being considered as special envoy to lead the delegation.

Meanwhile the task force committee will consist of two teams, one US experts and the other North Korea experts in order to deal with North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. In addition, some current government officials and those close to Roh are said to participate in the committee.

For his part, the president-elect enlisted support for peaceful resolution of North Korean nuclear issues in back-to-back meetings with Japanese ambassador to Seoul Terusuke Terada, Chinese ambassador Li Bin, and Russian ambassador Teymuraz O. Ramishvili.

On Tuesday afternoon Roh talked about how to respond to the North’s nuclear development attempts with North Korea or US experts, such as professor Moon Jeong In of Yonsei University, Yoon Yong Gwan, professor of Seoul National University, Seo Dong Man, professor of Sangji University and Lee Jong Seok at the Sejong Institute.

Earlier that day Roh received a briefing from Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Choi Sung Hong about latest developments in relations with Pyongyang and Washington.

Jeong-Hun Kim Hyung-gwon Pu jnghn@donga.com bookum90@donga.com