Four N. Korean officials to visit U.S.: report

SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Yonhap) -- A group of four North Korean officials will soon
arrive in the United States for a 10-day trip, a U.S. radio station said
Wednesday, marking the first such visit since the Barack Obama administration's
launch.
The delegation arrives on Thursday at the invitation of U.S. humanitarian aid
organizations, said Radio Free Asia.
The visit coincides with North Korea's preparations to launch what it claims to
be a satellite despite calls for restraint.
The report quoted an unidentified U.S. State Department official as saying the
visit is related to U.S. food aid to the communist state. Washington promised to
ship 500,000 tons of aid to the North last year.
The North Korean officials, led by Choe Il, are members of a civil committee,
which was established by North Korea in 2006 to boost exchanges with the U.S. and
has often served as a dialogue channel between the two governments.
The delegation will visit headquarters of the U.S. aid organizations, which
include Mercy Corps, World Vision, Global Resource Services, Samaritan's Purse
and Christian Friends of Korea. The groups are responsible for distributing
100,000 tons of food aid, or a fifth of what the U.S. government has promised to
North Korea, the report said.
They will also visit the North Korean mission to the United Nations in New York,
it said.
Asked whether the North Koreans will meet with officials of the Obama
administration, the U.S. State Department official declined to comment, citing
the sensitivity of the issue, the report said.
Members of the North Korean committee have made several visits to the U.S. since
early 2006, the report said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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