Kissinger turns down invitation to visit Pyongyang: Chung Mong-joon

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
recently turned down an invitation from North Korea to visit Pyongyang, a senior
South Korean lawmaker said Thursday.
Ri Gun, director general of the North American Affairs bureau at North Korea's
foreign ministry, extended the invitation in early November at a seminar in New
York, Rep. Chung Mong-joon of the ruling Grand National Party told South Korean
correspondents here.
Kissinger in essence rejected the proposal by conditioning it on a pledge from
North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons and to allow him to travel as an
official presidential envoy, said Chung.
Chung flew here Wednesday with three other GNP lawmakers to meet with U.S.
officials, congressmen and researchers on Washington's Korea policy after the
inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama next month.
Reports said Obama may send a special envoy to North Korea soon after his
inauguration on Jan. 20 to discuss ways to dismantle the North's nuclear arsenal.
Among possible candidates are Kissinger, as well as Madeleine Albright and Colin
Powell, who served respectively as secretary of state under the Bill Clinton and
George W. Bush administrations.
Obama has shown support for the ongoing six-party talks on ending the North's
nuclear programs, but also said direct bilateral dialogue should complement the
multilateral negotiations, which have been progressing sluggishly over the past
five years.
Obama has dismissed the criticism that it is naive to meet with North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il without preconditions, saying the Bush administration's
reluctance to deal directly with North Korea resulted in the North's detonation
of its first nuclear device in 2006.
The South Korean lawmakers were told that Kissinger was invited by North Korea,
Rep. Hong Jung-wook said, adding it was unclear in what capacity the visit would
have been made.
Hong said he got the impression from a number of U.S. scholars and congressmen he
met over the past few days that the North Korean nuclear issue and other
questions related to Korea are not on U.S. policymakers' list of top priorities.
"They told us that it takes at least six months for the incoming Obama
administration to set up its policy directions after the administration's
inauguration," he said. "We expect issues on the Korean Peninsula to be on the
agenda after that period."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)