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

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, according to Yonhap News Agency.



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.