[USFK Forums] S. Korean minister leaves for US to discuss NKorean nuclear talks [AFP]

[C. Y. Lee]

[Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Monday, December 19, 2005]

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SKorean minister leaves for US to discuss NKorean nuclear talks

AFP, Sun Dec 18, 2:56 AM ET

South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young left for the United States for talks with US leaders to discuss a stalemate in six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program.

Chung is to explain the outcomes of last week's inter-Korean ministerial talks and discuss with US leaders ways to break the stalemate in the nuclear standoff, his aides said.

Chung, also head of the National Security Council, will begin his US tour with meetings with lawmakers and a speech to the National Press Club in Washington on Monday, they said.

On Tuesday, he will hold talks with officials from the US department of commerce and meet with US-based Korea experts to discuss the nuclear standoff.
Chung will travel to Los Angeles Wednesday to give a speech to Korean residents and meet with a separate group of US-based Korea experts before his trip back home on Thursday.

Chung and his North Korean counterpart ended three-days of high-level talks in South Korea's Jeju island on Friday with Seoul's unsuccessful call for Pyongyang to return to the six-nation talks.

North Korea refused to respond to repeated requests from South Korea to agree to the early resumption of the talks grouping the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia.

Pyongyang said Sunday the talks last held in November would be suspended indefinitely because of US economic sanctions on the Stalinist state over allegations of illegal money counterfeiting and laundering.

The two Koreas, which fought a 1950-1953 civil war, have boosted their exchanges since a peace summit between their leaders in 2000.