Chung goes to Washington to discuss N.K.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young left for the United States yesterday to meet government officials and experts to discuss pending North Korea issues, particularly the nuclear standoff.

Chung will visit Washington and Los Angeles for six days to promote the recently blossoming inter-Korean relations and to exchange views on how to tackle the nuclear standoff.

This trip is considered to be the last international event Chung will make before leaving the Cabinet to return to the ruling Uri Party.

Chung said on Dec. 7 during an online chat with citizens that he wished to return to the party by the end of this year. Chung, who is dubbed one of the potential presidential candidates for the Uri Party, is most likely to run for the leadership post at the party`s national caucus slated for February.

The trip also follows four-day inter-Korean talks held on Jeju Island that ended with a joint statement on family reunions and Red Cross talks among others.

On his schedule in Washington today are meetings with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, along with Senator Chuck Hagel, the Republican head of the congressional subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific and Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa.

At the meetings, Chung will explain the latest developments in the inter-Korean talks, where the delegates reaffirmed their commitment to implement the international accord on dismantling all nuclear weapons and programs.

Chung is also likely to relay the North Korean position toward the United States amid an aggravating clash between Pyongyang and Washington over the financial actions imposed against the communist state`s alleged money counterfeiting and laundering.

In a rare occasion, Deputy Foreign Minister and chief nuclear talks delegate Song Min-soon joined the inter-Korean talks welcoming dinner on Tuesday, just a day after returning from Washington. Speculation rose that Song could relay Washington`s position to the North Korean side.

The fifth round of the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia face the danger of its recess being extended further. The parties had put the talks on hold last month and agreed to resume at an early date. North Korea is threatening to boycott the talks citing Washington`s hostility, while most members agree next month would be a good time to resume negotiations.

On the second day of his visit to Washington, Chung is scheduled to hold a news conference at the National Press Club to brief some hundred international press on various inter-Korean economic cooperation towards co-prosperity under the title "peace economy."

He will then attend a musical concert organized by an association of Korean residents and deliver a speech on Seoul`s policy on North Korea and the reunification of the Koreas.

After holding another host of talks with U.S. government officials and experts, Chung will fly to Los Angeles on Thursday (Korean time) to meet with Korean residents there and attend several more seminars.

This is Chung`s second U.S. visit this year, and the Foreign Ministry`s Director General for North American Affairs Kim Sook will accompany him.

(angiely@heraldm.com)



By Lee Joo-hee