hankyoreh

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who plans to visit Pyongyang next week, has asked to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, an official from the delegation said Saturday (Korea Time).

Tony Namkung, a North Korea expert who will be accompanying the governor, said in an radio interview with the U.S. government-funded Voice of America that Richardson made the request but has yet to receive an answer.

The governor, a former U.S. envoy to the United Nations, announced Friday that he will lead a private bipartisan delegation to North Korea with Anthony Principi, former secretary of veterans affairs. He is also to be accompanied by Victor Cha, director for Korea and Japan at the National Security Council.

Namkung said the meeting is likely to take place, as the visit will be the first time for a member of the White House staff under President George W. Bush's administration, Cha, to visit Pyongyang.

The governor will leave Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, Saturday morning aboard a U.S. Air Force jet after brief remarks and a photo session. He is to make a short stop in Anchorage, Alaska before arriving in the North Korean capital late Sunday afternoon.
Seoul, April 7 (Yonhap News)