U.S. positively reviewing scientists' visit to N. Korea: report

SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. government is positively considering approving a North Korea visit by a group of American scientists following Pyongyang's invitation to discuss ways of boosting academic exchanges, a report said Thursday.

North Korea had sent its scientists and technicians to Syracuse University in New
York for joint research projects since 2001, but the program was suspended after
the last such visit in 2005, said Radio Free Asia, a Washington-based station.
If approved by the U.S. State Department, David Baltimore, a 1975 Nobel laureate
in physiology and medicine, and several scientists and U.S. university officials
will travel to North Korea in July, the report said, quoting Stuart Thorson, a
Syracuse University professor who is deeply involved in the exchange program.
"Although the current situation may change this, they've asked to send a science
delegation to Pyongyang sometime in early summer of this year" to develop
exchanges in science and technology, Thorson was quoted as saying in a forum
hosted by the Korea Economic Institute in Washington.
He said the U.S. State Department is positively reviewing the proposed visit
despite spiraling tensions over North Korea's recent rocket launch and withdrawal
from nuclear disarmament talks.
The U.S. scientists will focus on building trust with their North Korean
counterparts and discussing ways of reviving their academic exchange programs, he
said.
In 2007, a group of six North Korean computer engineering scientists were
arranged to visit Syracuse University for joint researches for a year and three
months, but North Korea did not approve their trips, the report said.
Kathryn Weathersby, a historian at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced
International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, said at the forum that North
Korea was sending more scholars to Germany.