US's Rice Leaves for Asia Tour With North Korean Nuclear Agenda
Posted on: Saturday, 9 July 2005, 06:00 CDT
Excerpt from report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap
Washington, 8 July: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left for Asia Friday [8 July] for talks centring on resolving the North Korean nuclear impasse.
Just months after her previous travel through the region in March, Rice revisits South Korea, China and Japan, all of which are members of the six-party talks on the nuclear issue. North Korea, the US and Russia are also parties to the talks.
She also visits Thailand this time.
Efforts have been focusing on bringing North Korea back to the negotiation table, which it left a year ago, citing US hostility towards its regime.
The communist North is believed to have developed atomic weapons and to have enough weapons-grade plutonium to make more. In February, it publicly declared itself a nuclear power.
The secretary's trip takes place amid signals from Pyongyang that it may return to the talks. The North's top leader, who wields unrivaled power, told visiting South Korean officials last month that his country is willing to go back to the six-party negotiations as early as July if the US recognizes and respects it as a partner. [passage omitted]
Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
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