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Ex-Clinton official may go to North Korea: report

Posted on: Tuesday, 8 August 2006, 01:02 CDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - A former U.S. cabinet member who has held discussions with North Korean officials in the past over the North's nuclear ambitions may be planning a fresh trip to Pyongyang, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.

North Korea defied international warnings and test-fired seven missiles on July 5. It has also refused to return to six-country talks stalled since last November on ending its nuclear weapons program.

Bill Richardson, a Democrat and Clinton administration official who is currently governor of New Mexico, was in talks with the North about a visit sometime soon, Yonhap said, citing a diplomatic source in Seoul.

Richardson had been in discussions with the North Korean mission to the United Nations in New York about the visit, Yonhap cited the source as saying.

Richardson was unlikely to travel as an official U.S. envoy, the source said, but added that he had acted as a conduit for the Bush administration before.

Officials in Seoul had no comment on the report and no one at Richardson's office in Santa Fe was available for comment.

Richardson last traveled to North Korea in October and discussed North Korea's nuclear ambitions with top Pyongyang officials including the No. 2 figure in the country's hierarchy, Kim Yong-nam.

In January 2003, Richardson met North Korean officials at his governor's mansion in Santa Fe after Pyongyang said it was quitting the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Richardson is seen a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2008.

Source: REUTERS

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