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North Korea's nuclear negotiator to visit US for talks

North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator plans to visit the US within days for follow-up talks on a recent disarmament deal, South Korean news reports said yesterday.

The North's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan is expected to arrive in San Francisco on Thursday en route to New York for meetings with his US counterpart, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing multiple unidentified individuals in the US.

Visit

If Kim's trip takes place, it would be the first US visit by North Korea's main nuclear envoy since the international standoff over the North's nuclear ambitions flared back in late 2002.

The US and North Korea are supposed to begin bilateral talks on establishing diplomatic relations under a landmark agreement reached at six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing earlier this month.

The working group on normalization must convene its first meeting within 30 days of the Feb. 13 accord.

Normalizing diplomatic relations was one of the political incentives offered to North Korea under the deal, along with energy aid, in exchange for agreeing to shutter and disable its nuclear facilities.

Hill said at the end of the Beijing negotiations that he had invited Kim to New York to discuss normalization.

Working group

The US State Department said it was setting up the first working group meeting in New York, but that details have yet to be finalized.

"We hope to establish the US-DPRK working group soon and make an announcement," said State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus, using the acronym for North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Before flying to New York, Kim plans to spend one night in San Francisco to deliver a lecture at Stanford University, Yonhap said. The North Korean diplomat may also give a lecture at New York's Korea Society, it said.

Reports

Some major South Korean newspapers carried similar reports. None of the reports said how long Kim was expected to stay in the US.

The Feb. 13 breakthrough deal put a cap on rising tensions in the region since North Korea's first nuclear test was performed in October. But it also faced criticism for allegedly rewarding the communist nation for its bad behavior.

The countries involved in the six-nation talks are the two Koreas, the US, Japan, China and Russia.

Criticism

Despite the conciliatory mood, North Korean state media kept up its routine criticism of the US on yesterday, accusing Washington of plotting to invade the country.

"Dialogue and military threats can never be compatible," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary which was also carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"The United States should ponder over how high a price it would pay for its reckless maneuvers," it said.
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