By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may visit Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Feb. 26 when he will attend a concert by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in Pyongyang, according to a U.S.-funded radio station.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) said Rice, who will attend the inauguration ceremony of President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul on Feb. 25, is considering visiting Pyongyang to seek a breakthrough in the deadlocked six-nation nuclear talks and attend the concert along with Kim.
RFA said North Korea wants the United States to send a top official to the concert equivalent to its leader Kim, citing foreign affairs experts.
Rice is scheduled to visit Japan and China after attending the inauguration, accompanied by top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill but the schedule is subject to change, particularly in the face of more important tasks, RFA said. The six-party talks, aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program, have been stalled since North Korea failed to declare all its nuclear weapons programs by the end of 2007.
But Hill, also an assistant secretary of state, will arrive in Seoul Tuesday to discuss the stalled multilateral talks, as well as Rice's attendance at the presidential inauguration, Yonhap News Agency reported, quoting diplomatic sources here.
Hill will visit Beijing before arriving here and fly to Tokyo after a two-day stay ending Wednesday, the report said.
However, Rice also seemed to balk at visiting Pyongyang for fear that her visit would not bring any breakthrough in the nuclear issue.
Meanwhile, Alexander Arvizu, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs, didn't exclude the possibility that Rice could visit Pyongyang.
``It was our belief then, and it is today, that certain kinds of exchanges like the visit by the New York Philharmonic coming up in just a few days here are precisely the kinds of activities that can promote better awareness on the part of North Korean leaders,'' Arvizu said in Washington.
``We are trying to use this as one of the many other forms of engagement to create a certain space that makes possible some very difficult things we are trying to do on the denuclearization front,'' he added.
Some said Rice is the right person to represent the U.S. administration at the concert considering that she plays the piano very well, well enough to perform with the orchestra.
The U.S. State of Department, however, said it has no plan to send any U.S. official to the concert at the moment.
Seoul officials also dismissed Rice's visit to Pyongyang as unrealistic.
In the meantime, three former U.S. officials are expected to attend the orchestra performance. They are former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Evans Revere, former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry and former U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Donald Gregg.
Revere, president of Korea Society, and the two former officials will attend the inauguration ceremony in Seoul on Feb. 25 and the New York Philharmonic performance on Feb. 26 in Pyongyang.