Bosworth due in S. Korea next week

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- The top American envoy on North Korea plans to visit
South Korea late next week as part of his regional trip aimed at exploring ways
to persuade Pyongyang back into the denuclearization process, a South Korean
government official said Thursday.
"We are in consultations with the U.S. for Special Representative Stephen
Bosworth's trip to Seoul next week," the official said, asking not to be named.
"An exact schedule has yet to be decided, but he is likely to come here in the
latter part of the week."
He added that Bosworth will also visit other related countries including Japan,
China, and Russia, but it is uncertain whether he will also travel to North
Korea.
It would be his second regional tour since being appointed Washington's point man
on Pyongyang. During his previous trip in early March, Bosworth's offer to visit
Pyongyang was rejected by the communist nation, which was preoccupied with
preparations for a long-range rocket launch, according to informed sources.
The stalemate in the six-way talks on the North's nuclear program has deepened
after its April 5 rocket launch drew the U.N. Security Council's condemnation.
In protest, North Korea announced Wednesday that it will conduct a second nuclear
test and launch a ballistic missile unless the council apologizes for its action.
In Washington, the White House urged the North to stop provocative threats and
return to the six-way talks.
"I think what is important here is that North Korea understand that its
statements are irresponsible, that they are provocative and that the
international community is united in wanting to see a North Korea that is
denuclearized," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer told
reporters on Wednesday (Washington time).
The issue was not raised in U.S. President Barack Obama's press conference later
the same day making his 100th day in office.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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