By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
Top U.S. academics and experts on North Korean affairs, including a former diplomat who is considered a strong candidate to become a special envoy to the Stalinist regime, will reportedly visit Pyongyang beginning Feb. 3.
The U.S. delegation will consist of six or seven individuals, according to reports. It will include Stephen Bosworth, the former U.S. ambassador to Seoul, who is reportedly being considered by the Barack Obama administration for the post of special envoy to North Korea.
Other members will include former Assistant Secretary of State Morton Abramowitz and Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council in New York. The planned visit would be the first major civilian-exchange initiative under the new Obama administration.
The U.S. contingent will visit Pyongyang beginning Feb. 3 and meet with a number of senior North Korean officials, including Kim Kye-gwan, who has been serving as the reclusive regime's top nuclear negotiator, according to Yonhap News Agency. The U.S. group plans to spend about five days in Pyongyang and wrap up their trip around Feb. 7.
When asked whether the trip could be cancelled because of heightened inter-Korean tension, one U.S. expert who is reportedly part of the contingent said North Korea most likely would not cancel because Pyongyang appears to be pursuing different diplomatic strategies toward Seoul and Washington, according to Yonhap.
Meanwhile, the new Obama administration also reaffirmed this week its commitment to address human rights issues in North Korea.
The U.S. State Department said Thursday that the U.S. administration plans to deal with the human rights situation in the reclusive regime in due course
U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said ``Obviously, this administration is concerned about the human right situation in North Korea. And we'll be addressing that in due course."
The spokesman added that ``the whole question of the human rights situation in North Korea is something of concern."
U.S. President Obama had pledged repeatedly during his presidential campaign last year that if he were to be elected, his administration would address alleged human rights violations in North Korea in a more active manner.
The previous George Bush administration was criticized by human rights organizations for its alleged failure to directly address the human rights issue in the Stalinist regime.