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North Korea: IAEA Delays Visit The International Atomic Energy Agency has decided to delay a planned visit to North Korea because Pyongyang wants to connect the IAEA visit to the restart of U.S.-North Korea dialogue, South Korean media sources reported today, according to Agence France-Presse (see GSN, June 18). “The IAEA put off the visit after receiving North Korea’s position that discussing nuclear inspection schedules is difficult in a situation where the construction of nuclear reactors is being delayed,” a diplomatic source said, according to the South Korean Yonhap news agency. North Korea will probably begin talks with the IAEA after a date is set for U.S. Ambassador to North Korea Jack Pritchard to visit Pyongyang, the diplomatic source said (Agence France-Presse, June 25). Envoy Is Ready Meanwhile, the United States plans to send a representative to North Korea “very soon,” a senior South Korean foreign affairs official said (see GSN, June 19). “I was told by U.S. officials during my recent visit to Washington that the Bush administration is ready to offer the restart of dialogue to Pyongyang very soon,” said Yim Sung-joon, senior secretary for national security and foreign affairs to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. It is up to the United States to decide whom to send to North Korea, whether it is Pritchard or another official, Yim said. South Korea, however, would probably prefer to see a higher-level U.S. official become the envoy to North Korea, as it would show how serious the United States is in its attempts to restart a dialogue with Pyongyang, he said (Korea Times, June 26). War Anniversary Throughout North Korea today, demonstrators protested against the United States to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the Korean War, according to Agence France-Presse. “The rallies evinced the resolutions of the agricultural workers and women to take a thousandfold revenge upon the U.S. imperialists and wipe them out to the last man if they unleash a war in Korea again,” the state Korean Central News Agency was quoted as saying (Agence France-Presse, June 25).
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