North Korea Rejects U.N. Envoy: Source

NEW YORK (Yonhap) -- A plan to send a United Nations special envoy to North Korea next month has been called off due to the isolated country's unwillingness to hold dialogue at this time, a U.S. diplomatic source said on Feb. 21.

A group of U.N. delegates led by Lynn Pascoe, U.N. undersecretary-general for
political affairs, had planned to visit Pyongyang in early March but North Korea
has rejected the offer, the source told Yonhap News Agency.
The appointment of the high-profile figure as special envoy to North Korea has
been viewed as a sign that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is moving to take a
greater role in dealing with Pyongyang's reported plans to test-fire a ballistic
missile.
Intelligence officials said North Korea appears to be preparing a test launch of
its long-range Taepodong-2 missile, which is supposedly capable of reaching the
western United States.
The move has worsened already frayed ties between the two Koreas.
The source could not confirm why Pyongyang refused to accept the envoy but said
that the suspected missile test might be one of the reasons.
A separate source at the U.N. denied that the North rejected the envoy, saying
the U.N. and Pyongyang are still in talks to decide the best time to dispatch the
delegates.
He added that the U.N. is reluctant to directly address the North Korean nuclear
issue because the six-nation talks -- involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China,
Japan and Russia -- are still in progress.
Pascoe will, meanwhile, manage other pertinent political and diplomatic issues
involving Pyongyang, as well as humanitarian aid, he said.
Secretary-General Ban said in January he would send a high ranking official to
the North to report on the situation there.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had named Maurice Strong as his North
Korean envoy, but the global body has yet to send a representative to the
isolated country since Strong stepped down from the post due to a lobbying
scandal in 2005.