S. Korean envoy urges Rice to visit Pyongyang, U.S. says no such plans yet

Posted on : 2007-10-12 10:24 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST

The U.S. State Department said Thursday there were no plans for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit North Korea despite diplomatic calls for her to do so.

"I am not aware that anyone is thinking that the trip by the secretary is in the offing anytime soon or later," department spokesman Tom Casey said.

Talks of a possible Pyongyang visit by Rice coincide with the latest six-nation accord in which North Korea agreed to declare and disable its nuclear programs by the end of the year, the first crucial step toward the goal of eventually dismantling all of its atomic weapons and programs.

The Oct. 3 agreement, endorsed by South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, lays out incentives for Pyongyang in return for denuclearization steps. Those incentives include diplomatic normalization with Washington and Tokyo.

The South Korean ambassador to Washington, Lee Tae-sik, in an interview published Thursday, urged Rice to go to the North as a "political boosting measure" promoting the six-party deal.

"On the basis of what has been achieved on the ground, it is the right time for (Condoleezza) Rice to try to visit North Korea," the envoy told the Washington Times.

"Whenever you have an arms control agreement, it is very technical," Lee said. "Unless you boost it by political means, then it's going to be a bit precarious."

The highest U.S. official to visit North so far has been Madeleine Albright, who was the secretary of state when she went in 2000.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (Yonhap)

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