By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will arrive in Seoul today for a two-day visit to discuss North Korea's nuclear issue with her South Korean counterpart Yu Myung-hwak, a foreign ministry official said Friday.
Her visit follows North Korea's handover of details of its nuclear weapons programs Thursday, paving the way for Pyongyang to be removed from the U.S. terrorism blacklist amid years of international efforts to persuade the communist state to scrap its atomic programs.
Rice began her visit to Asia earlier this week, beginning with a stopover in Japan for a G-8 Ministers' meeting June 26-28. She plans to visit Beijing, the host nation for six-party talks over the North's nuclear program, Sunday after ending her visit to Seoul.
Rice and Yu will discuss follow-up measures to the North's declaration, including how to verify the details of its nuclear activities and the resumption of the six-way talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, the official said.
They will also address Bush's visit to Seoul for summit talks with President Lee Myung-bak and other issues of mutual concern, including the resumption of U.S. beef imports.
Under a six-party disarmament deal reached in February last year, North Korea must abandon all its nuclear programs in return for economic and diplomatic incentives from the five other nations.
The North is to receive 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or its equivalent in aid and other political concessions in exchange for disabling its key facilities and disclosing its nuclear programs.
Washington has promised to take Pyongyang off its terrorism blacklist and remove financial sanctions against it, once the declaration is made completely and accurately.