By Xinhua,
Seoul : The U.S. State Department’s top expert on nuclear program will arrive here later Monday on his way to Pyongyang, kicking off a flurry of diplomatic activities aimed at resolving nuclear program.
Sung Kim, head of the department of South Korean Office, plans to cross the inter-Korean border on Tuesday for his second visit of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korean), according to officials here.
During his visit, Kim will meet with the DPRK’s nuclear experts to discuss the ongoing work to disable the country’s main nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, the officials said.
“He is also likely to talk about how to deal with used fuel rods of the Yongbyon reactor,” said a government official.
Kim’s trip coincides with the resumption of the working-group meeting on fuel aid to the energy-starved North side within the framework of the broader six-party talks on the nuclear program.
South Korea chairs the energy-related meeting, one of the five working groups set up to implement last year’s deal under which the DPRK agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for political incentives and a million tons of fuel aid.
The other four working groups are designed to address the issues of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, normalizing DPRK-U.S. relations, normalizing DPRK-Japan ties, and establishing a Northeast Asian security mechanism.
Representatives from South Korea, China, the United States, Russia and Japan are scheduled to hold talks in Seoul on Tuesday to prepare for a plenary session to be held the following day at the truce village of Panmunjom that will also involve the DPRK.
On Wednesday, Japan will begin a separate two-day meeting in Beijing with the DPRK on the normalization of diplomatic relations.