U.N. envoy in Seoul before trip to N. Korea on nuclear talks

SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- A special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
to North Korea arrived here Saturday ahead of his scheduled trip to the communist
state next week for discussions on ways to bring North Korea back to nuclear
negotiations and improve its ties with the world body.

Lynn Pascoe, under-secretary-general of the United Nations for political affairs,
said he also planned to discuss with South Korea how to improve U.N.-South Korea
ties.
"I am here today to talk with South Korea, with (its) people, about the U.N.
relations with the ROK and we will talk about relational issues and we will also
talk some about the trip," the U.N. official told reporters before his meeting Wi
Sung-lac, Seoul's chief negotiator to the six-nation talks on ending North
Korea's nuclear program.
The ROK, or the Republic of Korea, is South Korea's official name. A former U.S
ambassador to Indonesia, the 66-year-old will travel to Pyongyang on Tuesday via
China.
He is expected to meet with a number of ranking North Korean officials to discuss
the resumption of the nuclear negotiations, also attended by South Korea, the
U.S., Japan, China and Russia, as well as U.N. assistance for the North.
Pascoe is the first ranking U.N. official to visit North Korea since the
inauguration of the South Korea-born U.N. chief in 2007.
The envoy is scheduled to meet Vice Foreign Minister Chun Young-woo, Seoul's
former chief nuclear negotiator, and also Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan later
Saturday.
He will leave Monday for China where he will likely catch a North Korean flight
to Pyongyang.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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