[USFK Forums] Unification Minister Chung to visit U.S. after inter-Korean talks

[C. Y. Lee]

[Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Tuesday, December 13, 2005]
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2005/12/13 18:38

Unification Minister Chung to visit U.S. after inter-Korean talks

By Byun Duk-kun

JEJU, South Korea, Dec. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's point man on North Korea is to visit the United States next week for talks with U.S. officials on ways to end the ongoing dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, ministry officials said Tuesday.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young is to fly to Washington on Sunday, two days after the end of the highest-profile inter-Korean dialogue, which started on this southern resort island on Tuesday.

The South Korean minister is to hold the 17th round of ministerial talks with the North's Cabinet councilor Kwon Ho-ung until Friday.

During his six-day trip to the United States, Chung is expected to hold a series of meetings with ranking U.S. administration officials to explain his country's relationship with the communist North, according to Yang Chang-suk, a spokesman for the South Korean ministry.

Yang said the ministry was trying to arrange a meeting with U.S. officials, including those from the White House, but said nothing has been organized yet.

He said the minister, who doubles as head of the country's National Security Council, may try to fine-tune the countries' position on the resumption of six-party negotiations over the North's nuclear development program.

The fifth round of the talks that involve the United States, Japan, China, Russia and the two Koreas were recessed in November, but the countries have been unable to set a date for their next meeting due to renewed tension between Pyongyang and Washington.

Officials at the South Korean ministry had earlier said Seoul may try to use its leverage on Pyongyang at the four-day session on Jeju Island to win a concession from the latter on the nuclear talks.

On the second day of his visit to Washington, Chung is scheduled to hold a news conference at the National Press Club, according to the spokesman.

He will attend a musical concert, organized by an association of Korean residents there, on Tuesday to give a special speech on Seoul's policy on North Korea and the reunification of the Koreas.

The South Korean minister is also scheduled to meet with a number of U.S. legislators, including Senator Chuck Hagel (R, Nebraska) and the Republican head of the congressional subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa during his trip to Washington, according to Yang.

He will then fly to Los Angeles next Wednesday (U.S. time) to give a special lecture on inter-Korean relations to a group of Korean residents there before departing for home Thursday, they said.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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[usinkorea]

Why? The only thing that would make sense is for him to go to piss on the leg of the White House up close and personal rather than from across the Pacific.

If he goes and has a nice meeting, it will undermine everything he has been doing inside South Korea when it comes to US-SK relations for the past few months to years.

The only thing that makes sense for him from his perspective is to go to the US to "talk tough" demanding the US drop the new sanctions and stop talking outloud about money laundering, drug trafficing, and other illegal activites the North has been caught doing for years.