By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend the inauguration of President-elect Lee Myung-bak on Feb. 25, according to a senior U.S. diplomat here, Thursday.
``President George W. Bush plans to send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as his special envoy to Lee's inauguration,'' Assistant Secretary Christopher Hill was quoted as saying by Lee's spokesman Joo Ho-young, who attended the Lee-Hill meeting earlier in the day.
In response, Lee told Hill that Rice's visit will be welcomed and Bush's plan will be appreciated.
Hill delivered Bush's congratulatory message to Lee and again requested Lee visit the United States as early as possible. In response, Lee thanked Bush for the invitation and said he will visit soon.
Hill hoped that the two leaders would meet soon and hold meaningful discussions in the United States.
During the meeting, Hill, the U.S. top negotiator at the six-party talks, stressed that North Korea should declare all its nuclear weapons program before the inauguration of the new South Korean government. Hill said this year should see the third and last step of North Korea's denuclearization following the declaration.
North Korea was supposed to submit a list of all nuclear programs and disable its key nuclear facilities by 2007 in return for economic aid and political concessions such as normalization of relations with the United States. But the Stalinist country failed to keep the promise.
Meanwhile, Lee told Hill that he will openly raise the poor human rights situation of North Korea in the international community.
``We should deal with North Korea's human rights not by a strategic approach but by humanities' universal values,'' Lee said.
The Roh Moo-hyun administration has been silent on the human rights of North Korea to not damage inter-Korean relations.
When President Roh took office in February 2003, then Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Seoul to celebrate Roh's inauguration.