Laura Ling

A group of US experts on Korean affairs will visit Pyongyang Saturday for talks with policy makers regarding North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, a news report said. The trip comes as Stephen Bosworth, US special representative for North Korean policy, is scheduled to visit the communist state on December 8 in order to persuade it to return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks. Korea Economic Institute (KEI) president Jack Pritchard, director of KEI research and academic affairs Nicole Finneman, and Scott Snyder, director of the Center for US-Korea Policy at the Asia Foundation, will stay in Pyongyang until Tuesday, Yonhap news agency said, quoting diplomatic ... Read Full Story

Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie will visit North Korea soon, state-run media said on Friday, amid efforts to draw Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks. Liang's trip, which also will take him to Japan and Thailand, will begin on Sunday and run through December 5, the China News Service reported, without giving a specific itinerary. It gave no reason for the trip but the announcement follows a visit to China this week by US President Barack Obama during which he and China's Hu Jintao called for an early resumption of six-party talks on the North's nuclear drive. The talks include the United States, Russia, ... Read Full Story

Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie will visit North Korea soon, state-run media said on Friday, amid efforts to draw Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks. Liang's trip, which also will take him to Japan and Thailand, will begin on Sunday and run through December 5, the China News Service reported, without giving a specific itinerary. It gave no reason for the trip but the announcement follows a visit to China this week by US President Barack Obama during which he and China's Hu Jintao called for an early resumption of six-party talks on the North's nuclear drive. The talks include the United States, Russia, ... Read Full Story

President Barack Obama announced Thursday he would send US envoy Stephen Bosworth to North Korea for direct talks on December 8, naming a date for the mission for the first time. "We will be sending Ambassador Bosworth to North Korea on December 8 to engage in direct talks with the North Koreans," he told reporters after talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak. Bosworth's mission is to bring the North back to the six-party nuclear disarmament talks which it quit in April, a month before staging a second atomic weapons test. The North's nuclear ambitions were the key topic during Obama's visit to Seoul, ... Read Full Story

US President Barack Obama arrived Wednesday in South Korea on the last leg of his debut Asian tour, with North Korea's nuclear programme and a stalled free trade pact due to top the agenda. Obama and his host President Lee Myung-Bak, who hold summit talks Thursday, were expected to be largely in step on efforts to bring the North back to the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks it quit in April. South Korea's decision to expand its aid mission to Afghanistan, and to send troops to protect its workers, will also be welcomed. But Seoul is showing signs of impatience at US efforts to renegotiate ... Read Full Story