S. Korean envoy travels to US, Japan on North's nuclear ambitions
S. Korean envoy travels to US, Japan on North's nuclear ambitions
Seoul envoy travels to U.S.
on North's nuke ambitions
Agence France-Presse Seoul
A special envoy of South Korea's president-elect Roh Moo-Hyun left for the United States on Sunday to push for a peaceful solution to the standoff over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
The envoy, Chyung Dai-Chul, will stay in the U.S. until Wednesday for talks with President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials. He will visit Japan on Thursday.
Chyung is carrying a letter from Roh calling for a peaceful solution to the nuclear standoff, Roh's aides said. Roh is to travel to Washington shortly after he takes office on Feb. 25.
Before his departure, the envoy told reporters he would convey Roh's opposition to sanctions against North Korea or a military confrontation over the nuclear standoff.
South Korea has stressed the need for time to allow diplomacy to work to resolve the crisis. The U.S. has been pushing for it to be referred to the United Nations Security Council, which could impose sanctions.
North Korea regards sanctions as a declaration of war.
The standoff followed U.S. revelations in October that North Korea had admitted to running a secret enriched uranium program in violation of a 1994 accord under which the Stalinist country froze nuclear activities.
The U.S. suspended fuel aid to energy-poor North Korea. In response, Pyongyang threatened to reactivate a mothballed plutonium-producing nuclear complex and withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Pyongyang demands the two Cold War foes sign a non-aggression treaty to settle the issue. Washington says Pyongyang must dismantle its nuclear threat prior to negotiations.
U.S. officials said last week spy satellites had detected suspicious activity at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex that could be the movement of nuclear fuel for conversion into bomb-grade plutonium.
The New York Times reported that U.S. satellites observed trucks moving up to a building that houses some 8,000 fuel rods at Yongbyon.
Analysts have concluded the trucks were moving rods to a hiding place or to a reprocessing facility, it said. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer Washington warned Pyongyang against such a "provocative" step.
"Any such step would have the effect of further isolating North Korea from the international community, which is united in seeking a peaceful resolution of the current situation," he said.
Yonhap news agency said Sunday that South Korea was in the process of confirming the report.
It quoted an unidentified government official as saying: "Even if such trucks were spotted moving in the vicinity of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, it is difficult to confirm whether the trucks were loaded with nuclear fuel rods."