Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a United Nations ambassador in the Clinton administration who has long maintained contacts with North Korea, will travel next week to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, for talks aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear arms program, Mr. Richardson's office and the Bush administration said Thursday.
Mr. Richardson, a prominent Democrat, said that he would not represent the United States as an official negotiator but that his trip was intended "to move the diplomatic process forward," following an agreement in principle reached last month in the six-nation talks involving North Korea and the United States and its partners, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.
"I am not an official envoy, but I am supportive of the administration's new policy to engage the North Koreans through dialogue and diplomacy," Mr. Richardson said Thursday in an interview.
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An official in Mr. Richardson's group said that North Korea had invited the governor to come to North Korea in late May and again later in the summer, but each time the Bush administration declined to give its approval. The first time, the administration was still trying to coax North Korea back to the bargaining table. The second time, the talks were at a delicate phase.
http://nytimes.com/2005/10/14/politics/14korea.html?hp&ex=1129262400&en=da16be802c12dfd0&ei=5094&partner=homepage